I Remember You
by phillydragonldy
Summary: Lex Luthor's memory of his time in Smallville may have been wiped, but heated visions of a blonde girl haunt him. Timeline: Not breaking canon, but implied alternate Season 7. Post season 10 Finale. Respect the rating.
1. Chapter 1

Prompt from lynzie914:

_forgive and forget you a thousand times  
for the fire and the sleepless nights_

* * *

Hot, hungry mouths.

A sigh of his name.

A flash of bright hair.

Firm legs wrapped around his waist as he pounded, pounded, pounded into her.

Explosive release.

Panting breaths returning to normal.

Her smile.

_God help him, he loved her._

But he said nothing.

Even so, for just a moment he thought the light of her would be enough to save him from the darkness.

But the image was already fading.

* * *

"No! Don't go!" The words were ripped from him. He shot upright in the large bed, dislodging one of the other occupants. The girl cursed vilely from where she landed on the floor, pushing long blonde hair out of her eyes. A sleepy grumble came from the other blonde mound at the opposite side of the bed.

He pulled at the sheets in frustration, ignoring both girls. He'd had another dream of her. They were never more than snippets, but they felt so very real.

_Were they real? Was SHE real?_

He had no idea who she was, or even exactly what she looked like. All he saw were these flashes.

He knew she was blonde.

In a subconscious attempt to find her, a veritable parade of blondes made their way through his bedroom. Sometimes a few at a time.

But they were never her.

He felt that if he ever saw her, he would recognize her instantly, but so far she still eluded him.

Maybe she wasn't real at all...

_No._

She must be from that foggy time before his resurrection.

_Damn you Tess and your f***ing neurotoxin._

His half-sister's last act had been to smear him with the agent, corrupting his memory. Most of his own past was a mystery to him. He'd been told some of his early life, but most of it seemed so unlikely. Why would he care so much about a farm boy? Why the hell had he invested in an Egyptian-themed coffee shop?

He decided than none of it really mattered in the end. Everything from that time was ashes. The Luthor mansion. His father's company. Even his old life.

What went before...was just the past. He was the future. He was a Phoenix, born anew from the ashes of the old.

The mansion was reborn as his Metropolis loft. It was much better suited to a modern billionaire than a drafty castle in the sticks.

His father's company, which had been a gutted ruin, was now merged with the new and powerful Lexcorp.

Anything else was just...irrelevant. The trials and failures that had happened in Smallville belonged to another life - a failed life.

Everything except her.

He wanted _her_.

He was almost painfully hard from the hot memories. Thankfully, he had Blonde One and Blonde Two here to do something about it.

Blonde One was back on the bed, so he grabbed her and pushed her face down toward his groin. He slapped the rump of Blonde Two. She woke with a yelp and glared at him. As he watched, he saw the change take over her face. She remembered who it was that had woken her so rudely. He could see the greed and calculation in her eyes.

Another Mrs Luthor wannabe.

Did these dispensable creatures really think he would marry them just for a f***?

Blonde One had him in her mouth now and was working him with some skill.

He motioned to Blonde Two that she should join her friend.

Let them fight over who could suck him off better.

He closed his eyes and imagined they were _her_.

* * *

He wrapped his fist gently in her silky blonde hair. Not pulling, not pushing. Just...holding.

It made him feel he had a measure of control over her.

_He never had control over her._

God knows how he had tried.

Her eyes were looking up at him.

Bright green eyes, heavy lidded with lust.

She was on her knees before him, but there was nothing subservient in the position.

Her wide, smiling lips parted to expose a peeping tongue. The wet, tactile pressure of it as she dragged it up the length of him. The darting flicks as drags as she explored the shape of him in detail. The firm pressure of her hand gripping him.

The heart-stopping moment when her lips kissed then slid forward and down. Heat and wetness scorching a path down him as her mouth slid down to meet her hand at the base.

The exquisite tension as she sucked and pulled her hot ready mouth up and down the throbbing fullness of him.

The unexpected slide of her tongue within that pulling, sucking mouth.

Green eyes watching as he released.

* * *

Later, Lex stood under the body jets of his shower, washing away all traces of the last hour from his body. He was always scrupulously clean, and couldn't abide the stickiness and sweat after sex.

The girls were probably still playing with each other in the bed. He doubted they were really into it that much. He'd seen the ploy too often now. They hoped that watching their sex play with each other would lure him back to the bed.

Sometimes he let it work, but not now.

Their coy fakeness had little appeal now that his transferred lust was sated.

The fantasy had been surprising vivid to his waking mind. There had been details he didn't recall specifically adding.

Then it hit him.

It had to be a **memory**, not a fantasy.

And with the memory, he had a new clue.

Green eyes.

The woman from his visions had green eyes.

He was just a bit closer to finding out who she was.

* * *

He met that night's nameless blonde in a hotel lobby. She was there for some business meeting or another. He forgot the details within moments of getting her into his bed.

She did have a nice smile. And green eyes.

It made him think of_ her._

She would do for another night of transferred lust.

* * *

They were in a strangely colorful apartment. A tiny apartment.

What the f*** was he doing in this little hole in the wall?

_This couldn't be __**her **__apartment, could it?_

No way.

Any woman that was with him would be in a penthouse. Or whatever the Smallville equivalent was.

But here he was.

Here _she_ was.

Green eyes, heavy lidded with passion looking over her shoulder at him. Bright hair hiding most of her face. Except those eyes.

Eyes that told him how much she wanted him. Not the faux passion of the disposables, but real heat. Heat just for _him._

She was clothed.

That was new.

She seemed to be doing something at a kitchen counter. She was wearing colorful, cutesy clothing. Not what he would have expected from someone that still had such a pull on him.

Her moved to stand behind her as she stood at the counter, wanting to see what she was doing.

Typing. She had a laptop out, and was typing.

He moved closer to see if the screen. Maybe it would give him a clue as to who this woman was or how he knew her. Unfortunately, as is so often the way in dreams, it was blurred when he focused on it too much.

But his position had brought his body into contact with hers. He could smell citrus shampoo from her hair. She was short, but well made. Without conscious thought, his hands reached out to find her body.

He wrapped his long fingers around her hips, enjoying the shape of her. His thumbs moving up and down over the sweet curve of her rump.

"Lex... I need to get this written..."

Her words were a protest, but she was pushing back into him.

Words didn't matter, actions did.

He skimmed his hands around until he was grasping the rounded globes of her rump in his hands. He squeezed firmly.

His green-eyed girl gasped and started to shift from foot to foot.

_You're getting ready for me, aren't you?_

He leaned against her back, letting her feel his hard body pressing into her as he caught her earlobe between his teeth.

"Lex, if I don't get this written, my boss will..."

"Spank you?" he asked softly into her ear.

She shivered.

"God, yes..." she breathed.

He reached for the bottom of her skirt.

Her f***ing skirts were too long.

_Next time, I'm going to make sure nothing you own even hits your knees._

Finally finding the hem, he pulled it up until the material was bunched around her hips. A flower printed thong bisected her rosy cheeks, which quivered under his touch. He pressed his still clothed hips against the bare flesh, just to see her reaction.

Finally abandoning the laptop, her hands gripped the counter edge. Her hips pressed back against him, and her head was thrown back.

"Lex..." the word came out shakily, her voice thick with desire.

He moved one of his hands around to her front, then slid it down over the outside of her cotton thong.

"You're ready right through the fabric," he observed into her ear.

"Yes..." Her voice was a heady mixture of lust and demand and surrender.

His fingers found the edge of the concealing cotton and traced it.

She whimpered.

She pressed herself down onto his finger.

_Not just one to meekly accept, are you?_

He held his hand still against her, letting her find her own pleasure of him. Her gyrations causing her to bounce and grind against his hard body.

He felt his own head tip back at the feel of her on his hand and against his hardness.

She screamed, shaking and convulsing against him.

After several long moments, he withdrew his hand. Her glassy eyes were looking back over her shoulder at him again. Holding her gaze, he very deliberately licked his fingers.

She shuddered again, watching him.

He noted her shifting from foot to foot again.

She was ready still.

Without breaking her gaze as he continued cleaning his fingers, he began to unfasten his belt one-handed. Next, came the button and fly.

His fingers finally clean, he used both hands to push down his slacks.

Her green eyes drifted down hungrily to his hardness as he undressed. Then they flashed up to meet his and she gave him a sexy smile as her thumbs hooked on the sides of her panties and pulled down.

He smiled back.

When the little cotton scrap hit the floor, she positioned herself back with her hands on the counter, bracing. She bent over slightly, with her legs splayed.

That was all he could take. He pushed down his boxer briefs, letting his painfully hard body free. He unerringly found her, but held himself mostly back from her.

She moaned and tried to press back on him, but he swatted her rump sharply. She yelped, more in surprise than pain, but he rubbed away the sting anyway.

He began moving forward.

She pressed back again.

He swatted her rump again.

This time, her cry was a mixture of lust and pleading.

He withdrew slightly, then pressed forward again. A bit deeper this time.

She moaned, but this time she stood still.

Now she understood the rules.

He withdrew to her anguished moan, the pressed forward again.

Her legs were quivering, but she stood still.

When he was sunk fully into her, he held still for what felt an eternity. Her body was desperate for release that he wasn't letting her have. She was whimpering deep in throat, begging for him to move, begging to him to let her go over the cliff she stood upon.

He pulled back fast, and just as she was gasping, he slammed into her. When he was buried again, he sharply smacked her pinked rump and shouted, "Move!"

With a cry of joy, she did, pressing back into him, meeting him. Their bodies were lost to a flurry of frantic pounding, grasping, crying, screaming until she threw back her head on a scream as her body shuddered and squeezed and pulsed. The feel of her had him crying out seconds later.

* * *

"Ah!" he cried as tonight's blonde bounced on his hips.

She may have green eyes, but she wasn't _her._ The feel wasn't quite right, but she was talented enough and brought him to the release he needed.

After the surprisingly hot and detailed memory hit him, he had needed that release badly.

He released into the condom as he let go.

She came shortly after. Or at least she pretended to.

He didn't really care which.

Actually, he didn't even care if she bothered to fake it.

They were all just filler.

They weren't _Her._

_She_ was these only one he cared about receiving as much pleasure as he did.

_She_ was special.

_She_ was everything.

With each more detailed memory, he became more convinced she was real.

So who the fuck was she, that even with his memory wiped and corrupted, she was bleeding through?

He could probably know by now if he was willing to have someone investigate, but he wasn't. If his enemies knew he was searching for a blonde from his mysterious past, they would try to exploit it.

He had to do this on his own.

Dislodging the panting blonde from atop him, he carefully stripped the condom and deposited it into the one-way trashcan. He didn't trust that one of these nameless fillers wouldn't try to impregnate themselves with stolen sperm.

He was the only person he could trust.

And maybe..._Her_.

* * *

Butterflies. He was watching butterflies.

No, not that wasn't right.

A butterfly.

It seemed to be...circling her?

No, it had landed on her and looked to be...resting on her hair?

He tried to focus, but the edges were fuzzy.

Then she smiled sleepily at him from the pillow beside him. He lost interest in the bright red and teal butterfly.

They were in a great bed.

His bed in the Luthor mansion maybe?

_Likely._

"I should go," she said quietly.

"I'm sure it will be ok with the boss if you are late."

Her smile faded. "Lex, no, I can't..."

He silenced her with a kiss.

There are a thousand ways to kiss, and he prided himself on knowing how to use them all. He knew how say he was going to fuck her until she couldn't walk with a kiss. He could make her think she loved him with a kiss. He could make her think she was the only woman he had ever kissed.

He knew how to make her stay with a kiss.

He used the last one now. Teasing, but demanding. Claiming and offering.

She didn't stand a chance.

Her heard her sigh into his mouth as he rolled on top of her, white linen sheets wrapping and tangling around their bodies.

He kissed her deep and heavy and drugging, letting his hands roam her unseen body under the crisp linen.

He wished he could see more of her, but this memory wasn't accommodating him there. He could at least feel her.

Firm, rounded body with lush curves and full breasts. One arm moved to lift him so he could give his long fingers better access to fondle and praise one of the full globes. He inscribed the flesh with deep circles, working his way inward. Upon reaching the sensitive tip, he gently pulled and teased, swallowing each gasp she made as she pressed herself into his hand.

He felt her running her toes up his legs, encouragingly. He felt her shifting, trying to align their bodies, her fingers digging into his hips in eagerness.

He smiled without breaking the kiss.

He teased at her lips until they parted for his seeking tongue as his hips finally aligned with hers. He dipped the tip of a his darting tongue into her mouth at the same time as he found her body with his.

He had planned to tease her, draw out the moment, but the combined sensation of her tongue meeting his and the her on him changed his mind. He needed to feel her fully.

His tongue plunged deeply into he mouth and he buried into her with a single thrust. She met him in full measure, raising her hips to grind against his and grasping his head to crush her lips onto his, her legs tangled with his.

There was nothing fake or half-hearted about how she clung and demanded, pressing every available inch of her skin to his. She was trying to consume him as much as he was trying the same for her.

She was seeking more than an orgasm.

She wanted _him_ with her.

It was a unique experience.

He did his best to oblige, pressing into her, matching her, giving and taking, building and quickening.

He broke the kiss only when he got dizzy for air. The rest of him keeping contact as he buried his face in her neck. The scent of her filled his head as he moved in her, with her.

"Lex..." she gasped in his ear as he felt her tighten around him.

"Yes..." he gasped back, moving faster as the edges of his vision shook and blurred.

It came upon them at the same time, his vision went white as he burst.

It was several moments later that he noticed the sharp pain in his shoulder.

"Ow, what the..."

"Sorry," he heard her mumble.

Pulling back, and for the first time he saw her clearly.

Her large green eyes were seated in a face with rounded checks and a slightly pointed chin with a delicate cleft. The flashing brightness of her short blonde hair was a tousled mop around her head. Something red and teal flashed through the gold strands. A butterfly?

She was pretty, but not street-whistle beautiful.

She wore a small, sheepish smile.

"I may have bitten you...a little."

He looked at the not-little bite mark on his shoulder.

"Indeed you did."

"Serves you right for making me late for work."

He felt a smile quirk one side of his mouth. "A small price to pay."

Her sheepish look melted into a heart-stopping smile and he had to revise his opinion of her. She wasn't pretty, she was gorgeous.

As the memory faded, a single thought crossed his mind..._I will find you._

* * *

_**Author's Note:** I originally wrote this on my livejournal as an NC-17. It was toned down to meet the M rating of , but if you prefer the original version, you can link to my LJ on my profile._


	2. Chapter 2

She was lying sprawled across a large rustic table. In a bikini. Her skin was dappled by flickering patterns of light and dark. The light coming through the large window filtered by the shifting leaves on the trees.

_Where the hell were they?_

Most of the room was lost except the girl, the table, and the light.

She was on her back with her head rolled to the side towards him. From here, she was in beautiful profile. Her stomach flat, but her hips, thighs, and breasts beautifully rounded and full. It was the kind of figure that made a man's hands itch to caress each dip and curve.

The bikini was black with white polka dots. He was riveted by the bright red bows on her hip and at the join of the top and strap.

He had no idea why she was wearing a bikini as she stretched out atop a table, but he was fascinated watching her lay there.

Her one hand rested quietly on her stomach, but the other teased her curly blonde hair.

_Curls today, huh?_

He paused at the thought, sensing another clue.

Then she smiled, and he pushed the thought aside for later.

For now, his mouth went dry, then wet.

He suddenly and desperately wanted to taste her...

"You said you wanted to eat in tonight..." she teased, still playing with her hair and smiling at him.

He remembered the next part - "I was referring to dinner."

She smiled wider. "Me too."

He was surprised by his own laughter. He almost never laughed. Laughter only happened when something caught you by surprise.

He tried not to let that happen.

Apparently it happened with her.

He moved around the end of the table. She rolled her head to follow him when he reached her feet.

He grasped a calf in each hand and pulled.

She squeaked in an undignified way as she slid along the tabletop.

He slid his hands up to her knees and pried her legs apart.

He watched her to see if she would protest.

She didn't say a word. Her chest was heaving with excitement, a bright necklace flashing with each fast rise of her breath.

For a reason he couldn't explain that necklace bothered him, but he pushed the thought away.

He leaned over her on the table and planted a dry kiss just below her navel. Then he circled the hollow with his tongue, dipping it in just to hear her shriek in tickly protest. Her hands pushed at his bare head, trying to force him and the tickley feeling away. He chuckled, but shifted to kissing a train down her stomach to the line of her bikini bottom. Her grasp shifted from pushing to pulling as he ran his lips over the skin just above the fabric.

He skimmed his lips down over the fabric where it covered the core of her.

But he didn't touch her. He passed by and made his way to one of her curvy thighs over her protests. Kissing the pale skin, his hand skimmed down her leg to grasp the ankle. He drew the leg up until it rested against his shoulder, pointing straight up.

Her breaths were coming fast now. He skimmed his lips across the quivering thigh one last time and over the bikini bottom once more, before moving to the other thigh.

She whimpered in frustration, but he ignored it, concentrating on kissing down her thigh again. As he had done with the first leg, his hand drifted down and found the ankle. She sensed he planned to match this leg to the first and tried to put her leg on his shoulder. He held her ankle firmly, restraining her. Only letting it straighten and rest with the first on his timetable.

His kissed the calves resting on each shoulder as he lightly grasped her ankles. With aching slowness he let his hands slide down the length of her lovely, curvy legs and down to her hips with those delightful red bows. Even though the bows were strictly decorative, he grinned as he untied each one. Her hips came off the table in her impatience. He smiled with satisfaction as he hooked his fingers through the sides of the bikini bottom and began to draw it down from her hips. When the swatch of skin showed, he leaned forward to plant a kiss there quickly. He was gone before she could grasp and hold him in place. He continued to draw the bikini bottom off her, but now he was pulling it up, over the legs still resting on his shoulders. He had to adjust position slightly from his shoulder to get them off her ankles, but once free of the black and white fabric, he put her legs back. She was trying to shift her legs from his shoulders, but he held them firmly in place.

"Lex..." she complained, shifting on her back.

"You have such lovely breasts. Show them to me," he told her.

Without hesitation, she leaned forward slightly, twisting her arms behind her back to reach the closure for the bikini top. With a pop, the top went loose and she quickly stripped it off.

He hadn't been lying. She really did have lovely breasts.

He began to draw small circles around the ankle bones of her legs where they rested on his shoulders.

"Touch them for me."

She began to draw small circles, mimicking his motion on her ankles.

_Ah, she is a smart one, isn't she?_

He moved his hands to a deeper massage of her calves. Her hands moved in greater, firmer circles, working her breasts. As he applied more pressure, moving down her legs, he saw her actions shift from just mimicry of what he did to something she was enjoying in and of itself. She was now massaging and pulling at her breasts just for the sensation and not at his direction.

When she was lost to it, he sharply pulled her legs from his shoulders and pressed them flat to the table, exposing her completely.

Her breath caught at the sudden change of position. She looked up at him wide-eyed.

He held her gaze, searching. He wanted to see her recognize her vulnerability. He wanted her to know she was at his mercy. He wanted her to know _HE_ was the one in power here.

He expected to see a trace of fear at her exposed state.

That isn't what he saw in her eyes. Desire, definitely. Certainly need. But not...surrender.

Instead, she just seemed to be...waiting.

That wasn't right. Even the women he f***ed feared him.

_Why didn't she?_

Even more important...why didn't he want her to?

He held her gaze as he loomed over her, slowly lowering his head to her shaking center.

_Was he a different man then? Was the Lex Luthor that had known this woman different from the one he was now? If so, how had he lost her?_

God, that taste of her was exquisite. Her hips left the table with the intensity of the rush he gave her. He shifted to pin her hips down and her legs open with his elbows on her thighs.

A cold thought invaded the hot memory.

_Was she dead?_

Was this woman that shook before him_...Dead?_

The memory froze like he had hit the Pause button on a DVD.

A trickle came through his consciousness_...No..._

The memory resumed. Her head was rolling from side to side as she cried out in pleasure. Her hands now scrabbled at his bald head, trying to get more, More, MORE from him.

_God, she was so responsive._

So if she wasn't dead where was she? How had she slipped away from him?

She was screaming and her legs were shaking under his securing arms as the orgasm ripped through her.

* * *

Tonight's blonde also had green eyes, but they were surprisingly hard. She was more predatory than most. He saw her adding up the cost of everything in the loft the moment she came in the door.

This one will expect a present for services rendered. That wasn't unusual, but he didn't encourage it. He would sometimes give the women that accompanied him to his various functions gifts, but not his one-night stands.

Besides, tonight, she - he thought her name was Lola - would be the lucky one.

He was going to dive head-first into her and wouldn't come up for air until she too forgot her own name.

* * *

He was back in the tiny apartment with _her._

He indicated a designer labeled gift bag with pink tissue decoratively peeping from the top.

She looked at him in consternation. "Lex, you have to stop buying me things."

He just shrugged. He was rich, people expected him to buy them things even when they said not to.

Almost as if she read his mind, she said. "I mean it. Stop trying to buy me."

He almost believed she meant it, but he didn't deny her accusation. He bought people. It was what he did. So instead he changed tactics.

"This one is for me as much as you."

Her expression shifted from stern accusation to curiosity. She moved to the bag and began removing the tissue.

She pulled out the black and gold lingerie. It was a corset style, but instead of ribbon ties, it had gold rings and open sides. The crotch was open, but fastened by more rings.

Chloe looked at the five-thousand dollar construction with pure horror.

Not the reaction he had been going for.

Holding the black and gold corset aloft, she cocked an eyebrow at him. "You must be joking."

"What? It's the hottest trend right now."

"Does that matter?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

"Because Lex Luthor only buys the best."

Her face suffused with anger. "Not everything is about what you can buy, Lex! I'm not one of your floozies! Stop trying to make me one!"

He surged to his feet, his anger rising to meet hers. Her jewelry box must hold $50k in jewelry by now, but she never wore any of it. Frankly, it ticked him off. He dropped his money to buy people that he could never respect every day. Why was it that the people he did respect spurned his money? How the f*** do you manage them if not by money?

"Then tell me, what are you?"

His yelled question shocked her. Her mouth worked like she was starting to answer, but then decided against her words. Finally she threw up her hands in defeat. "I don't know." Her arms dropped to her side, one hand still clutching the corset. She looked down at it in her hand, before raising it up by two fingers like it was something questionable and possibly vile. "But this? This isn't it." She threw the corset towards the gift bag and walked away.

"Where the f*** do you think you're going? " he shouted after her.

"To find myself."

* * *

He woke up utterly confused and distinctly ticked off.

_What the hell was that?_

It was completely unlike the heated dreams that he normally had of her.

In a fit of anger he tossed aside the covers and stalked from the bed.

The hard-eyed blonde of earlier tonight didn't stir. He'd utterly exhausted her. She hadn't wanted to orgasm for him, which made him even more determined. He retaliated by making her orgasm for hours.

Lex Luthor didn't lose battles. Even ones here.

So why did he feel like he was on the losing end of a battle with the memory woman?

He couldn't pit himself back against _Her_, so he would fight back the only way he could.

He marched to the hidden wall safe and spun in the combination. Inside rested a blue velvet box. The cascading diamond necklace inside was intended for Odette, his date for the symphony on Saturday. He removed it from the box and made his way back to the blonde in his bed. He draped the necklace over her exposed collarbones where she slept. She woke instantly as the cool metal and gems touched her flesh. Her hand snapped up to rest on the necklace at her throat. Her eyes were still hard as she pulled it away from her skin and held it up for inspection.

When she saw the extraordinary scale and quality of the piece, her eyes lost their hardness and met his in shock.

He smiled without humor. _This one_ understood what the necklace was worth.

Her eyes turned calculating as she clasped the necklace on. When she pushed him back onto the bed, he also knew _this one_ at least understood what was the appropriate return for such a gift.

He would let her thank him...repeatedly.

* * *

"Oh." Her voice held no joy. "Thank you, Lex. It is very... pretty," the memory girl told him as he let Lola stroke his body to life.

_Pretty? _He thought in confusion for a moment, before realizing he had slipped into another memory.

He saw it now, the ten-thousand-dollar necklace he had given her. The ruby was flawless, circled by twinkling diamonds. It was way more than pretty.

"You don't like it," he'd said to her flatly.

"No, it's just... I don't need... things."

What the hell did that mean? You bought women gifts. It was part of the expectations. It was how you set...boundaries.

Why didn't she understand that?

He cut off the ungrateful memory, and focused on the comprehending girl before him.

Dammit! He would be properly thanked this time.

* * *

He knew that for all the vigor she displayed, Lola didn't enjoy what she did for him at all.

He decided to bask in her hatred instead. He made a point of taking her in ways he thought she would hate, but would pretend to enjoy.

She wanted that necklace, and understood this to be the cost.

It was a perfect tit-for-tat.

* * *

When hard-eyed Lola left with the sparkling necklace around her throat, Lex considered it a well-done transaction.

_That _was how it was supposed to happen.

You presented a gift to set the boundaries.

You do not _humor_ Lex Luthor when he gives a gift.

That implies that he wasn't the one with the power.

He was_ always _the one with the power.

Even with _Her._

* * *

He had guessed for some time that the flashes, or memories, or whatever-the-fuck-they-were had no time order. The events were too disparate to be chronological. He was almost shocked from his slumber when his dream that night was directly connected to a previous sending.

* * *

"Where the f*** do you think you're going?" he shouted after her.

"To find myself."

He stopped. What the f*** did that mean? Throwing his hands in the air, he gave up. He went over to the corset and put it inside the bag. He picked up his coat and had just turned the knob when he heard her accusing voice behind him.

"Where the hell are you going?"

He turned toward her, "Look, obviously..."

His words trailed off when he saw her.

She was wearing a red lace babydoll. The top had her fantastic breasts pushed up and overflowing. The floaty lace hem danced around the tops of her thighs, playing peekaboo with a matching lace panty underneath.

She looked amazing.

She looked like herself.

He hated being wrong, hating being one-upped.

But he loved the way she looked in that red lace babydoll.

He let the door fall shut as his fingers left the knob.

Finally he answered her question. "Nowhere."

* * *

The dream of the night before left him confused.

It felt like he backed down, something he normally didn't do.

But unlike the first flash, he didn't feel like he had lost.

Was he p***y-whipped by a fantasy?

No.

She was real.

She _had_ to be real.

He needed to find proof.

Because if could prove she was real, he could discover what this power she still held over him was.


	3. Chapter 3

"We'll be caught, Lex," she said, but that didn't stop her from stripping off her jacket.

"No. We won't." He was already working on her blouse buttons. "I'm the boss, remember? I said I was not to be disturbed. That I had to chastise an employee."

"What?!" she reared back from him.

He smiled with wicked humor. "It's to be expected of me. Dragging you up here to ream you out. I'm evil, remember?"

He meant it teasingly, but her green eyes turned deep. She raised a hand to his face, pleadingly. "Lex, don't do that. Don't become your father. Don't let yourself be consumed by games, power, and obsession."

"I will never be like my father."

It was true.

He would be **greater.**

No one would remember Lionel Luthor in ten years, but the name Lex Luthor would echo for centuries.

But right now, the echo he most wanted to hear was her calling his name as it bounced off the walls.

Breaking contact with her searching eyes, he shifted to undo the button of her pants. _Pants_. Why did she insist on wearing pants so often?

_No pants allowed next time..._

She must have given up on whatever impression she was trying to make, because she began pulling at his tie.

He finally got the awful pants open and pushed them down her hips to join the matching jacket on the floor. She dragged the tie off over his head and threw it down on top of her own clothes. He slid out of the tailored designer jacket as her fingers began working their way down his shirt buttons.

Despite what he said, they had a limited amount of time before someone would come looking for him. One of the drawbacks of being a corporate god were all his worshipers.

_Speaking of worship..._

She looked distinctly naughty standing there in her open blouse with peeping blue bra and panties.

_In an office..._

He didn't recognize the setting, but it was clearly an office going by the glass-top desk with computer, phone, and other accoutrements. A large swivel chair was neatly tucked under the desk with an enormous window behind. Unfortunately, the view from the window was obscured, not giving him any reference points.

He turned his attention back to _Her._ She had her bottom lip held in her teeth as she worked his shirt buttons. The fabric was crisp and not yielding to her easily, but she was nothing if not determined.

Such determination deserved a reward.

Reaching around her, he grasped her rounded ass and lifted her onto the edge of the desk. She gasped as her bare thighs hit to cool glass top, her hands tightly gripping his half-open shirt. She would leave it terribly creased.

He didn't give a damn.

He moved to stand between her open legs, running his hands up her thighs to that intriguing place where leg met hip. He traced the line of her skin at the join where the pale blue panties rested. His thumbs leading the way up and then back down, the fingers drawing closer together as he neared where her thighs joined. He couldn't drag his eyes away.

God, she was always so incredibly eager for him.

He couldn't even remember all the women he had slept with, in fact, he didn't even try. Instinctively, he knew none were like her. None were ever so completely THERE as she was. Everything about her was part of it. She wasn't cataloging what to do at work, she wasn't wondering what he would buy her next, she wasn't planning their wedding.

When she was f***ing him, that was _**everything**_ in those moments.

He let his thumbs slide, tracing up and down as she shivered.

He was contemplating his next move when his mind went blank. She was scraping his bare head with her teeth. His scalp was incredibly sensitive and the pressure of her sharp teeth was sending incredible pulses straight down his spine and around to his front.

_Holy f***..._

When she shifted to licking the sensitive skin, his mind cleared enough for him to remember what he had been doing. He felt her gasping breath ghost over his scalp when his thumb inscribed three fast circles. Then changing direction, he did three slow circles. Her hips squirmed, and he switched direction again doing three more fast.

Fast, slow, fast, slow, fast, slow.

He felt her body tightening and he breath seizing as it puffed against his head. When he felt her body go into lock, he stopped.

"God damn you, Lex! I swear if you don't -"

Her words stopped instantly when he pushed into her.

He had her so lost in the rhythm, she hadn't noticed one hand had moved to open his belt and slacks.

He sank into her again and again, burying deep. She wrapped those wonderful, strong legs around his waist as she rolled her hips on the edge of the desk, meeting him.

Her breath now panted in his ear. "Yes..Yes...Lex..."

It didn't take long for her body to start tightening around his again as the denied orgasm returned in stronger force. He shifted the angle of his penetration to scrape that special spot inside her.

That did it.

He swallowed her scream with a hard, grinding kiss as her nails raked his head.

The intensity of her around him sent him over the edge after her.

He was glad the office was soundproofed.

* * *

"Who is Chloe?"

He pulled out of the girl, making sure to keep a firm hold of the condom. Rolling to the side of the bed, he carefully stripped the rubber and deposited it into the one-way trashcan.

She was talking at him, he realized a moment later. He turned to face her, frowning. "What?"

"Who is Chloe?"

He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

She was playing with a strand of her curly blonde hair, twirling it around a finger in what she probably thought was a coquettish way. "Well, you cried out her name when you...you know."

Crap, had he called her the wrong name? He generally avoided names. Though this one had been better than most in the sack. He might invite her back. Best to try to smooth it over.

"I'm sure you misheard..." _Crap!_ He really didn't know her name. Katie? Kathy? Candy?

She frowned in annoyance, showing surprising insight. "Cadence."

He was well and truly caught. Best to cut his losses. "Cadence. Right." He got up from the bed, grabbing a dark blue silk robe from the poster and slipping it on. "My man is waiting outside the door. After you've collected your things, he will see you out and make sure you get back to your home safely. Thank you for a lovely evening."

He heard her sputtering.

He paused outside the bathroom door and turned back to face her. "Chloe, you said?"

"Yes!" she spat the word at him.

"Interesting."

Chloe.

_Could that be__** her **__name?_

That voice in his subconscious answered_._

Yes...

* * *

_Chloe._

Chloe.

Chloe.

He let the name roll around his mind as he stood under the shower jets. He hadn't bothered to turn on any of the lights in the bathroom, choosing instead to bathe by the ambient light of the night-time city coming through the window. Sliding his eyes closed, he conjured her face from his visions and fit it with the name.

_Chloe..._

Yes. It worked.

Her name was Chloe.

His hand shot out to stabilize him against the wall as another vision hit him.

His eyes opened, but he wasn't in the bathroom any longer.

The vision was unlike any of the others. He knew it for the past and he knew it was about _Her_ -**_ Chloe_** - but she wasn't there.

Her name echoed in his thoughts as the vision took over.

* * *

It caught his attention.

He wasn't really sure why, but it did.

The brilliant red and teal wings glistened and sparkled with an iridescent sheen in the bright sunlight.

He paused at the woman's small booth to get a better look at the beautiful hair clip.

The booth had a sign that proclaimed she was selling to benefit something called the "Midwest Butterfly Conservatory."

He pointed at the hair clip. "Let me see that one."

The woman happily opened the case and presented him with the brilliantly colored ornament. "It is made from real butterfly wings from one of the breeds protected by the conservatory - the Teal-Flanged Scarlettrope. They are very short-lived, but have excessively beautiful wings. We use the sale of the wings of the passed to pay for breeding programs for the species."

Freed from the case, he could see the beautiful translucence of the wings. The teal streaks sparkled through the deep red base color when it hit the light just so. The wings had been limed in silver and attached to a hair clip to protect them.

He though the red and teal would look brilliantly beautiful against her blonde hair.

"How much?"

"Fifty dollars."

He paused and stared hard at the woman.

She shifted uncomfortably, then spoke again. "Twenty dollars."

He pulled out his wallet and selected a hundred-dollar bill. He held it out to the woman who looked at it in puzzlement.

"I'm not sure I can break that, Mr Luthor."

He smiled without humor. "Good, so you do know who I am. Take the money for the hair clip and have a necklace made and sent to my Metropolis office when you can."

Taking the money, she replied, "Yes, Mr Luthor."

* * *

_It can't be there_, he thought. _No chance._

So why was he out in the middle of the night, pressing his driver to get him to the old Luthorcorp building so fast? When the car pulled up in front of the former headquarters, which now housed mostly documents, he raced inside while the driver was still getting out of the car. He waited impatiently for the express elevator. When the doors opened on the former penthouse office level, he bee-lined for the hidden wall safe in the executive suite.

He held his breath as he spun in the combination.

His pent-up breath released explosively when he saw the white box. He already knew what it held even as he lifted the lid to reveal...

A beautiful red-and-teal butterfly wing necklace.

She was real.

Chloe was real.

* * *

He didn't know how long he stood there, holding the butterfly wing necklace up to the lights of the Metropolis night, when another vital clue from his earlier vision struck him.

_"I'm the boss, remember? I said I was not to be disturbed. That I had to chastise an employee."_

An employee.

How had he missed that clue?

_Maybe because you were too caught up in knowing her name..._

A name that mattered.

_Chloe._

Chloe had worked for him.

* * *

He called Gina. All of his assistants were named Gina... even when they weren't. He'd given up on trying to remember their actual names. They came and went too quickly.

_Maybe I should stop f***ing them..._They invariably thought that if they warmed his bed for a night or two they were owed something beyond being his assistant.

He told them in no uncertain terms they were wrong. That was usually the point when he had to find a new "Gina." He wasn't really sure why he had chosen that particular name for them, but it worked well enough.

"Yes, Mr Luthor?" current Gina asked. Her voice gave no indication that she was in the least disturbed by the 4am call.

"I need the employment records for all Luthorcorp holdings for the 8 years previous to my...leaving sent to my computer."

The phone was silent for a moment, then Gina tentatively spoke, "Mr Luthor, that is a huge amount of data. Is there any way to narrow your request?"

_Chloe. _That was all he knew, but he couldn't tell Gina even that much.

"Just see if done."

"Yes, Mr Luthor."

"Also get me information about the Midwest Butterfly Conservatory."

A surprised pause.

"Ummm, yes, sir. Of course."

Hanging up with Gina, he grasped the necklace in a loose but firm grip and turned away from the window. The lights from the city night sent a thousand bright reflections across the room. A tickle in his mind told him he _knew_ this room.

Realization slammed into him like a load of bricks. He was in the executive office of Luthorcorp from his lost years.

Was_ this_ the office where he had Chloe on the desk?

Spinning, he found the edge of a desk peeping out from under boxes of records. Pushing some of the burying boxes back, her exposed a larger section of the sleek glass top. He flattened his palm on the cool surface.

He was getting closer.

_He was getting closer to Chloe._


	4. Chapter 4

Eveything was fuzzy except for the blue door and the upbeat music. He turned the knob and it opened, letting the words of the happy music filter out. He walked inside. He was back in that tiny colorful apartment.

He heard her singing in the other room.

Badly.

_You've got the music in you  
Don't let go  
You've got the music in you  
One dance left  
This world is gonna pull through  
Don't give up  
You've got a reason to live  
Can't forget  
We only get what we give_

She must have been cleaning, judging by the spray bottle of electric blue fluid that was currently serving as a microphone. Her other hand was spinning a dirty cloth over her head. She was wearing a cute set of patterned cotton pj's and gyrating her hips with the music.

She wasn't facing him, and must not have heard him enter over the music and her terribly off-key singing.

He had perfect pitch of course, but he was never this joyful. She looked young and happy and completely free as she belted out the upbeat lyrics.

She swung around in a flaring twirl and stopped when she saw him standing there.

His face felt tight. It took him a moment to realize he was smiling.

Not his usual sardonic smile, but a real smile.

For a moment he was baffled. Why was this girl singing and dancing around in her pj's something that made him smile?

The answer came swiftly.

_Because it was her._

Seeing she was caught red-handed, she tried to make her hold on the bottle and rag seem nonchalant.

"Lex. I was..."

"Cleaning?" he volunteered.

She knew she was well and truly caught. Instead of looking shamefaced, she smiled and held up the rag and cleaning fluid. "Yup. Cleaning."

"I didn't realize that cleaning involved so much dance. I'll have to keep a better eye on the maids," he drawled as he slowly walked through the bedroom doorway.

She nodded with finality. "Yup. Only way to do it. Every Disney movie ever made taught us that."

"Can't say I've ever seen many. My father thinks all that love and sharing makes one weak."

She just shook her head.

His face was still quirked in a smile. "Though the interpretive dance was definitely something to see."

"What? You dance."

"Ballroom only. It was a skill my father deemed essential if I was to mingle with the other power players."

"But you go to clubs all the time..."

"Only to be seen. Not to dance."

She just shook her head again. "Then I'm afraid I have nothing further to offer."

She blew a piece of blonde hair from her face where it had fallen over one eye. Her pj's were modest, but couldn't hide the shapely young body inside. Her face was flushed with her dancing and joy.

She looked stunningly beautiful.

His smile turned feral. He found himself stalking towards her. "I wouldn't say that."

Reaching her, he seized her wrist and pulled her to him. "You can just keep on... dancing."

He took her lips with his and kissed her intently, fully, deeply. His hands began wandering over her body through the soft old cotton of her pj's.

He heard a thump and guessed it was the cleaning fluid dropping from her grasp. His guess was confirmed a second later when he felt her grip the lapels of his jacket in her now-free hands.

Most of his visions jumped right to the sex. It was nice to have one that took the time to explore her mouth.

His lips shaped around hers, feeling the soft give. Her lips were dry and full, but inside her mouth he knew there was moist heat. He traced the seam of her mouth with his tongue, seeking entry into the moist warmth. Her lips parted and he delved inside with teasing flicks.

She moaned in the back of her throat and pressed her body insistently against his. He felt her pushing at the coat he wore, and allowed her to slide it off him.

He continued to tease her mouth with alternating exploratory kisses and quick delves of his tongue. He wouldn't rush today. For once he would have her at his leisure. His hands roamed and fitted themselves over all the intriguing curves and dips of her body, but he left her clothes in place, taunting them both.

She seemed unable to share his unusual restraint. She was working her way down the buttons of his shirt, her hands surprisingly nimble. He remembered her struggling with his crisp shirts.

_She must have more practice at this point._

Once all the tricky little buttons were all open, she pushed aside the open front to expose the bare skin of his smooth chest. Her hands flattened themselves against the smooth, lean muscle. She broke the kiss and watched with rapt interest as her hands moved up and over his shoulders, pushing his shirt back as they went.

He quickly released his hold on her body to undo the buttons at his cuffs before his hands could become trapped. She might enjoy having him at a disadvantage, but he wasn't willing to give up his freedom of motion.

He timed it well, releasing the second cuff just as the shirt was moving down his arms. It dropped to the floor with a soft _plop_.

He reached around and planted his hands on her hips, driving her backward towards the bed.

"Oh, not the bed, Lex. It doesn't have any sheets down."

"What?" He looked around her and saw that she was right. The bed was completely stripped. All the bedding was in a heap near their feet.

"I was going to take it down to the wash..."

"Well, we aren't planning on sleeping, so we don't need sheets." He began pressing her backward again.

"No, Lex, I..."

He pressed his lips down on hers hard. He had a plan. Nothing as petty as proper bedding was going to throw it off. He pressed her back, even as she resisted.

Suddenly the world went topsy turvy. He found an awkward "Oof!" springing from his lips as he collapsed onto the pile of bedding.

"What the -" He looked up at her. She was grinning triumphantly. "Did you just...trip me?" he asked incredulously.

"Yup." She was beaming down at him.

He tried not to be irritated that she had, quite literally, outmaneuvered him. "I'm impressed. Not many people can do that to me." He tried to look composed, as if he wanted to be on the floor on top of a mound of dirty bedding.

Still smiling at her victory, she dropped to her knees in front of where he was sprawled on the pile of sheets and blankets. He found his irritation slipping away at her obvious delight. He felt his treacherous lips quirking into a smile against his will. He adjusted his position so he was more reclining than tumbled.

Still smiling, she removed first one of his shoes, then the other. He had no idea why, but he found that extremely erotic. Maybe because it seemed so... intimate.

_No. Don't be foolish. It's just shoes._

Next she peeled off his socks, and catching his eye, jauntily threw them over her shoulder.

He had no idea why, but he laughed.

_Why was that funny? Why did I laugh...then or now?_

It was _Her._ She somehow managed to pull him into the joke with her.

Her smile was very different when she began sliding her hands up his slacks covered legs. One of her hands pressed firmly into each of his legs as her hands made their ascent. He keep his own hands quiet at his sides, watching her. He found himself fascinated by the sparkling fires in her eyes as they held his. As she moved up, she had to lean forward on her knees over him. She was short and he wasn't, so she ran out of arm before he ran out of leg.

_She really was short, wasn't she?_

He filed that away as another clue. He hasn't quite realized it before. She was so consuming in his thoughts, that he hadn't picked up that her physical stature was quite petite.

She scooted forward on her knees, between his open legs. Her hands now resumed their journey up his thighs to the bulge in the front of his designer slacks. He watched intently to see what she would do. She began chewing her bottom lip unconsciously. To him, it was as clear a signal of her arousal as the hard bulge in his pants was for him. Her hands became softer as they reached the tops of his legs and skirted around the tenting material.

Everything about her bespoke her lust. For him. Not his money. Now what he could do for her. Not even for the orgasms he could bring her. She wanted _him_. She wanted his body with hers. The hairless freak, but she wanted him.

How... extraordinary.

Holding his eyes, she continued ghosting her hands up his chest. As she moved across his abs, a shivery, tickley feeling ran up his spine and he found his back arched. His motion had the fortunate affect of pressing his tenting crotch into the warm suppleness of her chest.

She really did have the most wonderful breasts. He should be seeing them about now.

Lifting his hands from his sides, he moved them to her waist, where the bottom of her pj top rested. He began dragging up the soft material. She paused long enough in her tactile exploration of his chest to allow him to pull the top off over her head.

Once the top was gone, she continued to explore his stomach and chest with searching hands, and when her head came down...with her warm tongue. She ran her tongue from the line of his slacks up to his navel, trailing moist fire. Her movements caused her now-bare breasts to shift and move across his still-covered, but ready, groin.

Tucked as she was between his legs, she was somewhat trapped. As she continued to work her way up his body, she realized this. She began to alter her position. "Close your legs, Lex."

His turn for a power play. He smiled. "No."

"No?"

"You dropped me like this. If you want me to alter your poor placement, I deserve something in return."

She looked at him suspiciously. "I already took off my top."

"Mine went first," he pointed out logically.

"Ah, I see." She smiled with a fascinating mixture of humor and wickedness. Leaning back on her heels, she hooked her thumbs over the waistband of her pj bottoms and began pushing them down her hips.

His body gave an appreciative twitch inside his boxer briefs.

When her pj bottoms hit her knees, she leaned forward onto all fours to shift them down and then kicked them away.

She looked at him significantly. He smiled and obediently closed his legs so she could straddle the outside.

Naked Chloe straddling him was something to be appreciated. Today her short hair was in messy, wavy chunks, making her look slightly rakish. Her beautiful breasts with were on display for him. Her small waist and wonderfully flaring hips had him fighting not to grab.

But it was apparent she had something in mind, and he was curious.

She moved forward on her knees until she was above his still-covered crotch. Holding his eyes, she let herself rest back on her heels over him, so she was directly over his manhood. If his clothes weren't in the way, he would be buried inside her. Seeing the wicked gleam in her gaze, he pulsed his hips up.

She gasped.

He smiled. Two could play her game and he had infinitely more experience.

He thought at that point she might shift back so she could undo his blocking slacks and boxer-briefs, but she didn't. Instead she began crawling up his body.

_Was she..?_

When she was straddling his chest, she looked down at him. "You said I should 'just keep on dancing.' Want to make me dance, Lex?"

In reply, he grasped her hips hard and dragged her up to his mouth. She squeaked as she tumbled over his shoulders, her hands hitting the bedding above his head.

She may have laid out the game, but he was an expert player. While she was still trying to regain her balance, he had her just where he wanted her. He expertly applied one slow, long, lick. She froze for a moment, before he heard a deep moan issue from her mouth. He repeated the move. Chloe stopped trying to find a new position, holding still on all fours with him between her legs, ministering to her. Chloe pressed her hips down onto him, panting and issuing sharp noises of pleasure as he worked. He wished he could see her breasts move with her, but they were above his vision with her on all fours.

"Sit up. I want to watch you."

Pressing her knees more firmly into the bedding on either side of his head, she sat up. He now had a view straight up her body from the heated core of her, across her stomach, to her wonderful breasts, up the column of her throat to her face with its heavy-lidded green gaze.

He held still for a moment taking her in.

"You gonna move, Luthor, or what?"

He let his tongue answer her. She gasped in surprise and pleasure. He kept his eyes open as she moved on him, so he could watch her breasts bounce and her head thrown back as she cried out. He sensed she was nearing the edge. Time to push her over. He changed his motions to a chaotic flicking, twisting, and pulsing in no specific direction.

She let out a single sharp cry at the complex, warring sensations, riding him in frantic rhythm. He felt her legs tighten around his head, and the limited air he was allowing himself smelled of her, as he mercilessly worked her.

He felt when her her body locked, then shuddered as she screamed out her release.

He loved watching her dance.

Only after she had collapsed forward back onto all fours did he release her with a _pop_.

She lifted off of him and made as if to snuggle against him.

_Oh no. Not a chance._

Holding her eyes, he very deliberately reached down and he undid his belt slowly, significantly, letting the buckle clink. He watched the sleepy satisfaction fade from her eyes to be replaced by a new lust. She shifted down his body and watched as he undid the button and fly of his slacks, but did not touch him. He paused, waiting for her to take over, but she didn't move, just flicked her eyes up to his and back down again.

Lifting his hips he pushed the slacks down as best he could, but could only get them to his thighs. He gave up and moved to the waistband of his boxer-briefs and carefully pulled them down. His straining manhood sprang out and he released a sigh of relief. Lifting his hips again, he slid down the boxers to catch with the slacks around his thighs.

Finally Chloe moved, holding his eyes, she reached out a hand and wrapped it firmly around his hard member. He gasped. He had been waiting for that for what felt like forever. Leaning forward, she loosened her grip enough that she could give him a single long, wet lick.

She was using his own moves against him. He would have laughed if he wasn't so awash in lust.

His head dropped back onto the bedding. She repeated the move. He looked down at the exceedingly erotic sight of her green eyes holding his as her mouth moved. His head dropped back. If he kept watching, he would go much too soon, and he wanted this to go on _forever_.

His hands gripped the bedding below him as he fought to restrain his hips. He desperately wanted to thrust, but he knew that most women didn't appreciate that. So he fought to hold still while Chloe pulled and sucked and drove him mad. He felt pressure build behind his eyes and knew he was getting close. He grabbed her hair, halting her movements. _Oh God_, he had looked at her again. She was there with mouth full of him...but he wanted to be inside her.

"Chloe, stop."

Seeing she understood, he released his grip on her hair. She dragged her mouth off him with a wet _pop_. He switched his grip to one of her wrists and tugged upward. Again, she understood perfectly and he released his grip on her. She climbed across him, straddling his hips. With a mind of its own, his body was seeking her. As she slowly slid down onto him, he heard his own groan echoed by her.

She began moving on him. He let his head drop back again to the bedding and closed his eyes, concentrating on the exquisite feel of her on him. After a a few moments though, her motions became ragged. He expected she was tiring.

_I should exercise her like this more._

"Move your legs, so your feet are flat on the floor. You'll have better leverage," he advised.

Looking at him questioningly, she complied. She was now crouched over him, with him buried inside. Experimentally, she lifted up, pressing her feet into the floor and let gravity carry her back down. Deeper, harder, than before.

"Holy crap!" she exclaimed at the altered sensation.

He smiled wickedly. Sex was his forte, and he loved bringing it to her.

She closed her eyes to focus on the sensations. He kept his open, watching her face. Slowly at first, then with increased speed she lifted and fell onto him. Catching her rhythm he raised his hips to meet her as she crashed down onto him. He may have told her how, but now it was all her. It was her directing their coupling with her movements, and him rising to match. Up and down, up and down, her body grasping and pulling at him. Demanding more and more. Her body held tight, pressing on him. He could feel each time he dragged across her sent a new cry from her, her mouth opening on a wordless sound of pleasure.

Her eyes were scrunched tight and her mouth panting as he felt the pressure building in her.

"Lex..." she gasped as she hovered on the edge. He felt the pressure between his own eyes as he lifted his hips higher and higher to meet hers. Her body was pulling, dragging, pressing on his, demanding. She needed more from him. He _had to_ give it to her. He was unable to do otherwise. With her next movement, he twisted his hips just slightly. That did it. The tension in her snapped and sent rippling shudders through her entire body, especially where it met his. Her teeth were bared, her eyes scrunched tight, her neck a corded column as she threw her head back and screamed as her body went mad. She looked like a wild animal, something dangerous and unreasoning. Her body riding his in frantic, sloppy bounces as she exploded over and over. He tried to hold back, but watching her was so overpowering, that he found himself falling over the blinding precipice with her. They crashed together over and over as each pulse set the other off. She was screaming and sobbing his name as her body shuddered beyond her control, and he gritted his back teeth together so hard he thought they might crack as he poured into her.

* * *

Returning to himself partly, Lex knew there had been something different, something wrong about the encounter he just witnessed. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but his senses were flashing danger signals at a rate that should indicate imminent nuclear meltdown.

Was it the strange way he had focused on her? Usually the women he bedded were just vehicles for his own lust. Getting them off just part of the sport of sex. But this was different. His completion had been tied to hers. Watching her lose herself to the orgasm he gave her had been intrinsic to his own release.

Even now, as he saw it replay in his head, it wasn't his own orgasm, blinding as it was, that he focused on. It was hers. Watching her completely and utterly give herself over to the pleasure of him had... done something to him.

He had never witnessed anything so raw and powerful in his life.

_Either of them._

And it was because of him. Because he had... given up control.

_No._

No, that can't be right. He would never do that. Not now. Not then. But as he continued watching the memory, uneasiness gripped low in his belly.

She carefully lifted herself from him after a time, and he felt an echo of loss at leaving her body.

Giggling, she finally acted to remove the crumpled slacks and boxer briefs from around his thighs. Then he watched as she curled against him on the pile of bedding on the floor.

He kept waiting for the vision to end, but they just lay there. She curled against him with one small hand resting on his bare chest. His arm around her shoulders, idly playing with a stand of silky, disheveled hair. They were talking, but he couldn't make out the words.

Why did he feel intrusive watching this?

He never had any qualms about privacy. Every single building he owned had surveillance equipment. Unbeknownst to them, many of the homes of his allies and rivals had the same. And for a handful of very special individuals... their own eyes were his spies.

So why was he so conflicted by this memory? Why did he feel like he should turn away? Even more disturbing... why did he long for this to be him?

Not memory him. _Now_ him.

The sex was over, so why did he still... want?

That unease in his belly was turning into a cold lump when the voices suddenly became clear.

* * *

"I have something for you," he whispered into her ear.

She sat up angrily, pulling at the sheets under them to try to cover herself. He didn't move, keeping the sheets pinned down by his sprawled body.

"Damn it, Lex! What the hell is wrong with you? Stop trying to buy me. Just. Stop. Buying. Me. Stuff. I already told you-"

He put his hand over her mouth, stopping the torrent of words.

Her eyes over his hand were shocked. She couldn't believe that he had physically stopped her words.

He smiled at the victory. "If you would get off your high horse for a moment, you might like to know that wasn't my intention."

Her mouth flapped.

She was at a loss for words. How unexpectedly wonderful.

"I saw this at the stall of a vendor outside The Planet and it just..."

He suddenly realized the flaw in his plan. Yes, he had proven her wrong. He could get something without it being a way for him to buy her, but that left him open. It gave away critical knowledge that he thought of her even when she wasn't around. Letting her know she had that power could give her an edge. Seeing her curious look, he weighed the risk and reward. She would know that she was in his thoughts, but she would also know that he could catch her unawares. That would keep her off balance.

Then there was the way she was looking at him now. Curious, excited.

$50k in designer jewelry and not once had she looked so eager.

Frustrating woman.

Reaching for his jacket where it was tossed on the floor, he pulled the crumpled butterfly patterned paper bag from his pocket and handed it to her.

She looked at it curiously from all sides before raising an eyebrow at him.

He knew what that look meant instantly. She was surprised by the lack of designer logo and heavy stock bag. Surprised and...interested.

With a lot of crinkling, she pulled out the plain white box. She flashed a look at him again, but was much too curious by now to pay him any more attention.

He felt suddenly nervous.

That was ridiculous. He hadn't been nervous with a woman since...ever.

What if she didn't like it? What if he had tipped his hand for nothing?

She popped the top of the box and gasped with shock and delight. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she took the clip off the small piece of batting in the box. Unaware of her nakedness, she stood, letting the bag and the pieces of the cheap box fall as she held the clip to the light.

The sunlight shone through the red and sparkling teal of the butterfly wings. She held the hair clip like she expected it to take flight.

"Oh, Lex...it's..." She tilted the clip in the light, making the wings flash.

She looked radiant in her joy.

"Beautiful." Looking up at her from where he still reclined on the piled sheets, he wasn't sure if he was completing her sentence about the clip or speaking of her.

He really didn't care.

It was a victory.

Oddly, that didn't seem to matter much either right now. The words started from him before he realized, painful as they were.

"I saw it and thought of you."

His chest was tight. The words were dragged from him, but the ones he held back were even more painful.

* * *

Suddenly he knew. He knew what he had been fighting against. He knew the cold lump in his belly was fear. He knew why he was so uneasy looking at the scene.

He had let himself become vulnerable, exposed. Vulnerability was anathema to Luthors, yet she had somehow managed to subvert his defenses leaving a gaping hole in his armor.

How had it happened?

* * *

He woke screaming, clutching his head.

"NO! Get out of my head! Get out! Out!"

"What? What happened?" Tonight's sleeping blonde popped her head up from the pillow next to him. Her hair was a tangled mop with pieces falling in her eyes. She blinked sleepy green eyes.

Green eyes. Blonde hair.

_Like Chloe._

**No!**

No more!

He turned his coldest, hardest look on the blonde he had f-ed just hours before. The words came out from gritted teeth as he tried to rein in the pounding mix of emotions. "Get out. Now."

His tone caught her by surprise. "Lex? What is it? What happened?" She sat upright on the bed, loosely holding the sheet up across her breasts.

He leapt from the bed and spun around so he could plant his hands on the mattress and loom over her.

"Don't talk to me like you know me! We f-ed and now you are leaving. Collect your things and go. My driver will see you home." He spun away from where she now cowered on the bed.

"But I thought..."

He spun back to her, choosing one emotion to focus on - anger. "Oh? And what exactly is it that you _thought_?" he sneered. "That I'd buy you something? That I'd marry you? That I'd _fall in love_ with you?"

She looked frightened now. Her grip on the sheet was now clenched, as if she thought to shield herself from him with the 800-thread-count Egyptian cotton.

He ripped it from her, tearing away her meager protection.

_No weakness._

"Well guess what? I've been down that road in a failed life. Did you really think you'd be the exception? Some nobody I picked up in a club for an easy f-? Two screwdrivers and you were already sucking my d-."

Pulling the sheets completely free of the bed, he tossed them away with a flourish. "And seriously, who orders screwdrivers at a top shelf bar?"

The naked girl had leapt from the bed when he ripped off the sheet. She was frantically grabbing up her clothes and purse as he raged. He heard her sobbing and saw her shaking with fear and upset as she tried to collect everything while trying to keep her body as small and curled as possible.

This imitation had been exactly what he thought he needed...before. Now she just reminded him of...

**NOT** what he had lost.

He had lost nothing. **Nothing.**

Finally, the blonde must have gotten everything. Or she no longer cared about anything left behind, because she ran for the bedroom door. He had already forgotten her before the bedroom door closed.

He needed to stop this obsession with the blonde she-devil that haunted him. Focus on the life he had now, not visions of a past that was no longer his own.

He would stop chasing the visions. He would stop chasing her doppelgangers.

Those things made him weak. Made him vulnerable.

He didn't need _Her._

He could make women fall in love with him in a matter of hours with his smiling seduction techniques. He could pretend to be all velvet and honey, but inside he was steel. Hard, impervious, and most of all, unmoved.

Even when he "made love" it was always just f-ing. His soft touches and softer words were just another layer in the game. A pretty dressing to sell the story. It wasn't about connection, not really. It was illusion, just part of the game.

Until now.

As he had yielded the words that let her know she was in his thoughts, other words had followed them in his mind. Words he couldn't possibly say.

He suddenly felt he couldn't breathe. His hand reached out and gripped one of the bed posts to steady himself. His heart felt tight and raw in his chest. His free hand formed into a claw and dug into his own skin over his heart, bruising, hurting, marking. He vaguely thought if he could control the pain in himself, he could somehow expel the frailty.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

He wasn't supposed to fall in love with her.

He wasn't supposed to fall in love with her...again.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I put in a little tribute moment to apeygirl's fantastic "Deep in the Bottle" here. Recognize it?

Also, the song is "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals.


	5. Chapter 5

"Mr Luthor, I've uploaded all that data to your computer," Gina told him with an air of triumph.

His head snapped up to look at her smiling proudly. His felt his brows furrow in annoyance. "What?"

She was still smiling. "Well, I had to partner your hard drive with the corporate server, but I was able to get you full access to all the employment records that you requested." She finally noticed the storm clouds taking over his expression. "The ones from before you...left..."

"You did what?" he asked in a deadly quiet voice.

Her smile was gone now. "You asked me to get you all the employment records. I did. If that isn't what you wanted, I can change it." Her words were tumbling over each other now. "Or if there is a person in particular that you are trying to find, well, I can search her out..."

He shot up from behind his desk with such ferocity that his chair almost flipped. "Who said I was looking for someone? Who said I was looking for a "_HER_?"

She swallowed, backing away from him, her eyes wide. "No one, Mr Luthor. I just assumed..."

He knew he was overreacting, but he couldn't help it. It wasn't Gina's fault that he had left himself open to _Her_.

But he couldn't reach _Her_, couldn't hurt _Her_ for making him so weak, so raw, so exposed.

So he would fight on the field where he could win.

He sat down in the chair again, taking pains to move slowly and calmly. He replaced his hands on the keyboard loosely and returned his attention to the monitor.

"You're fired," he said without inflection.

"What? But I -" he heard the shock in her voice.

"Go to HR immediately. They will see about your last pay and escort you to clear out your desk."

She said something else, but he tuned it out. He did let his lips quirk in a smile when her heard her crying in the hall.

* * *

He f-ed triplets that night.

Other men may dream of sleeping with twins, but he was twice-dammed Lex Luthor.

He did things that normal men couldn't even venture to dream about.

* * *

They were in a Porsche.

_Probably mine._

He was driving way too fast down a dirt road, not sure where they were going. He looked quickly over at her and he knew instantly where they were going.

Right here.

He pulled over on the deserted road.

As soon as the car stopped, he heard the click of her seatbelt, then she was in his lap.

Good thing she was tiny, or she would have been crushed against the steering wheel of the sports car.

He was kissing and biting at her neck, chest, ear - anywhere he could reach as she pulled at his belt.

"Now, Lex. Now!"

His hands worked under her skirt (_A skirt!_) and literally tore away the material over her hips where it was thinnest. The scraps were thrown onto the car floor as he was finally freed and sinking into her.

She was nearly sobbing with need as she rode him in the crowded space of the car. He pulled her top and bra down roughly exposing her bouncing breasts. He pulled one exquisite globe into his mouth as sucked it in time to his thrusts.

He felt her racing towards completion, and when he felt her at the edge, he bit down - hard.

She screamed in mingled pain and pleasure as her body crashed up and down with his own blinding pulsing.

* * *

He didn't give a sh- that his shout of release echoed through the parking garage. Her long legs with their sky-high heels were wrapped around him and locked behind his back as he pounded into her.

Anyway, he and - Bridgette? Britney? - were the only ones in the parking area below the club. Everyone else was still up above, grinding against each other to the pounding rhythm of the music.

He had wanted to escape the vision. So why was he here?

Why had he dragged the brainless - Bethany? Brandy? - down here so he could fuck her across the hood of his car?

_Because you had Her in the car...and you had to make do with this one over it._

_Shut up! _he told the mental voice.

He pulled from the panting body of the girl where she lay sprawled across the hood of the Porshe. Removing the condom, he pulled matches from his pocket and set the sticky rubber ablaze. He watched it burn as he tucked himself back into his slacks and reordered his clothing. The girl giggled as she slid down from the car's hood and adjusted the tiny hot-pink dress back down. He had simply pushed it up to expose the tiny G-string underneath. That he torn to shreds.

_Like he had with Chloe..._

It hadn't mattered that this bimbo had red hair. It had still been about_ Her._

He was trying to f- her - _**Chloe**_ - from out of his head, but instead it seemed she was still f-ing with his.

There must be something more here. More than just what he..felt -**_ had_**_ felt! Past tense!_ - for her.

He should resume his search for her.

He needed answers.


	6. Chapter 6

Who knew that Chloe was such a God-Damned common name?

He had started searching employee records within the main Luthorcorp offices in Metropolis. Several Chloe's, but none were her. He expanded his search to other Luthorcorp branches in and around Smallville and Metropolis, spooling though the employee photos of every Chloe between 18 and 40. No luck. He didn't think the clues from his dream were wrong - she must have worked for him in some capacity.

As he looked at the image of another wrong Chloe, a thought struck him. His visions hadn't said anything about her working specifically for Luthorcorp. He had made that assumption himself...maybe that assumption was wrong. Maybe she didn't work directly for Luthorcorp...maybe he owned or partnered with her company. He paused. Even in an area as restricted as Smallvile/Metropolis that still left dozens of enterprises.

He needed more information.

Information on her.

Information about what happened.

* * *

He looked up at the slamming door. Even though the room was fuzzy in the memory, he could hear it slam.

Chloe marched in without preamble, looking fantastic in a short skirt and matching jacket. Her expression was determined.

"Hello, Chloe. I'm surprised to see you up here. If you are taking advantage of my open-door policy, you shouldn't have slammed it." He gave her a mocking smile.

She ignored the smile. Her eyes were bright and shining with some emotion, but her face was hard. "Lex, this is business. I need you to send me on an assignment. With Grant Gabriel gone, that leaves you."

"Well, of course, Miss Sullivan. Care to explain why?" he clasped his hands together and leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk.

She looked at him hard. "No."

He held her steady gaze, trying to puzzle what was going on. While it wasn't unusual for her to lock horns with him, he sensed that for once he hadn't done something to get her back up. This was about...something else. Something that upset her.

He held her gaze, trying to read through the mask. She was upset and trying to hide it, but she was here asking for help. His help. She wouldn't ask for it directly, it broke their unwritten code. So instead she came and demanded something she knew he could easily grant in the guise of work.

Something big must have happened for her to come to him this way.

He needed to approach this differently. He pushed back from his desk and walked around to the front, then leaned back casually. He crossed his legs at the ankle and slid his hands into his pockets.

Not intimidating...Open. Friendly.

He spoke softly, as if to a skittish animal. "Talk to me, Chloe. I'll listen."

Her face flushed with anger and her hands clenched into fists. "Of course, Lex, I'm sure you'd love to _listen_. But that isn't what I asked for. I need to be sent on an assignment. Anywhere. There must be some shithole in Iowa that has a story about a puppy in a drainpipe that needs coverage. Send. Me. Away."

He cocked his head. She was purposely trying to pick a fight with him. Interesting. Normally their fights came more...naturally. He suppressed a smile. He would test her resolve.

"Alright, there is a worker's strike in North Dakota at a Luthorcorp nickel plant. I need someone to go and tell the corporate story."

Her look faltered, then he saw the steel return. "I don't do the company line, Lex. I tell the truth. Both sides."

So, whatever it was, wasn't enough for her to compromise her code.

"You know what, this was a mistake. I shouldn't of -" She spun away on her heel without finishing the sentence.

Even in his seemingly relaxed posture, he had been waiting for this. He sprang to his feet in an instant. He reached out and seized her wrist.

She spun around to face him.

"Chloe. What -"

Then he couldn't speak. Her lips were crushing into his.

He was completely thrown by the change in her. She bit and tugged at his lips in unusual aggression.

She was pressing him backward, and still surprised by the sudden change, he let her. When his legs hit the edge of the desk, he sat back and gave himself over to the unparallelled pleasure of Chloe.

He tasted salt and thought at first it might be blood from her hard bites, but when he opened his eyes, he saw she was crying.

_What the hell -?_

"Chloe -"

"Shut up, Lex. Just shut up and f- me." She was already working at his belt. His pants were open a moment later and her hand slid inside his boxer briefs. She gave him three hard, fast pulls and he was ready. She dragged down her own panties, not even bothering to kick them away when they caught on one ankle. Then she was on top of him where he sat on the desk. Her skirt pushed up and him still wearing his boxer-briefs and she slid onto him without preamble.

God, how could she be so ready so fast?

On top of him as she was, her head was slightly above his. She grabbed him roughly by the ears and pulled him to her for a hard, grinding kiss, her teeth clicking against his. Her hips were moving up and down on him, and though he promised himself answers for this unusual display, he was more interested in the feel of her moving on him right now. He planted his feet and wrapped his arms around her to steady her. She was at a somewhat precarious angle, perched on his hips as he sat back against the desk. She was moving on him hard and fast, taking and demanding, uncaring of anything else.

"Yes. Yes!" she encouraged as her body worked him frantically.

Her frantic need pulled at him and he found himself rushing to climax with incredible speed.

"Chloe, I'm -" he gasped as he felt his body tighten. She opened her mouth over his and swallowed his hoarse cry as his body convulsed in her. A second later, he swallowed her cry the same way.

* * *

Sullivan. Her name was Chloe Sullivan. That was a name he hadn't encountered yet, but he was still going through records. Slowly. The subsidiary and held company records were not always complete or easy to sort. Maybe it was time to try a new tactic.

Chloe Sullivan worked for Grant Gabriel.

Grant Gabriel...he knew that name. It was a name he remembered seeing in_ this_ life.

He needed to think, and he always thought best with a glass in hand. He climbed from the large bed quietly, so as not to disturb his bed companion. He donned the silk robe from the bed poster, ignoring his throbbing body. This was more important. Moving across the moonlit room, he opened and stepped through the bedroom door quietly, closing it behind. The light of the moon was enough to guide him as he walked down the hall to the open living area. He bee-lined for the sideboard where several bottles of fine scotch waited in crystal decanters. He poured himself two fingers of a particularly mellow blend. Drink in hand, he moved to the large window, thinking. He stared out at the city under the soft glow of the full moon, letting his mind turn over the name, searching for where it fit. Chloe said something about a story assignment and Grant being gone. Something in media? Had Luthorcorp owned any media companies? He watched the activity in the street far, far below, taking small sips of the mellow liquor. Finally, with a mental _click,_ the piece fell into place. It was in the files he had reviewed of projects from his lost Smallville years. There was something significant about the project, but he couldn't recall the details. If he had ever looked at the details. If the project was a failure, he would have moved on to look at something else.

Well, those project files were a lot easier to search than the scattered employee records. For starters, it wasn't unusual for him to delegate searching through back projects. That wouldn't raise any red flags as to his true intention. He would put new "Gina" on it. He pulled his phone from the pocket of the robe and dialed Gina.

"Mr Luthor."

"I need the project files concerning Grant Gabriel on my desk ASAP. He was from a project that took place before I left. I think he was involved in media of some kind."

"Yes, sir. I'll do it now."

He frowned at the phone. He might have to replace this Gina sooner than he would have liked if she didn't realize that was the point of his call.

"Good."

He hung up without another word.

He drained the glass of the last remaining scotch and placed the empty glass on a table for the maid. He made his way back to the bedroom. He felt like the puzzle was finally nearing completion. He would find her soon. Then he would finally be able to understand what had happened and why she haunted him.

* * *

This time when he slipped into the bed, he awoke his bed companion. He was still heavy with lust from his earlier vision and needed relief. Feeling pleased with himself for the revelations of the evening, he employed his softest touches, and smoothest techniques.

After he climaxed, he found himself with Chloe again.

* * *

They were panting into each other's mouths, coming down from their intense orgasms.

Splaying his fingers, he combed her blonde hair away from her face. Her tears were gone.

She pulled her face away, leaving his hand hovering in the air, holding nothing.

She didn't look at him as she extricated herself from his lap.

He sat up, putting his clothes back in order slowly. What was that about? What was going on with her today?

He froze.

Had she heard about what happened...?

No, he had kept it quiet.

_Wait. What?_ _Damn it! What had happened to him?!_

She still wasn't meeting his eyes as she claimed her panties from around her shoe, and moved them back into place.

Was she...embarrassed? No, the posture was wrong and the only flush on her cheeks was from their sex.

She was definitely upset, maybe even more so now than when she marched through the door.

Was the sex...payment for an assignment? No, not likely. Chloe would do anything if she thought the cause was important enough, but this felt...personal. Not like part of one of her crusades.

She still wasn't looking at him as she moved towards the door.

It was too much. He'd bite.

"Alright. I'll send you on assignment. Somewhere you can be fair and balanced."

She paused, but still didn't look back. "Thank you, Lex." She started moving towards the door again.

He watched her go, still unsure what to think of her strange mood. He could set someone to investigate what she had been up to the last few days. She had been out for two full days.

She paused, with one hand resting on the door knob. She took a deep, shaky breath. She finally looked back at him over her shoulder, her expression complicated. "You could...come with me. If you wanted."

He paused.

She had broken another unspoken rule. They never asked for each other. They just showed up. They didn't plan. They certainly didn't...travel together.

But she wanted him to come with her.

Away.

Away from Smallville. Away from Metropolis.

He knew instantly where.

"Yes," he answered. "Yes, I know just the place."

* * *

New Gina came through. The project information was waiting on his desk when he arrived at work the next day. Maybe he wouldn't let her go just yet.

Grant Gabriel was the result of Project Scion. He was the clone of Lex's dead brother, Julian, and had worked at The Daily Planet.

The Daily Planet.

He had her.

* * *

He looked at her picture from her employee records of The Daily Planet.

Chloe. Chloe Sullivan.

There was no mistaking that smile. Those eyes.

He knew who she was.

Unfortunately, he still didn't know_ where_ she was now. Her employment at The Daily Planet had ended several years back. Looking at the notation, it looked as if_ he_ had fired her.

So what had happened?

And where was she now?


	7. Chapter 7

He decided to wait until he got back to his loft apartment before continuing his search into Chloe Sullivan. This felt like something he should do privately.

For once, he returned home alone.

He told his staff he wanted no distractions or interruptions.

He would shower, then take a meal in his bedroom.

Tonight he was going to find Chloe.

* * *

Lex stood under the powerful blasts of the body jets in his shower. He wasn't sure why, but he almost felt as if he was going to meet her tonight. That feeling was what sent him to the shower before starting the search. He had even used his most expensive body wash, the one he reserved for use only around those with the ability to recognize it. Would she know it when he found her? They say that scent and memory were closely linked.

As he washed, his anticipation in finding Chloe coiled and shifted in him, showing physically in his hardened body. He'd been hard since seeing her face on the computer screen this morning. He felt like she was finally within his grasp. The endless meetings between now and then had been almost unendurable.

_Maybe I should have taken new Gina up on her offer before leaving the office._..

No...that isn't what he really wanted. He wanted _Chloe._

He leaned one hand against the shower wall for stability. Without conscious thought, his free hand grasped himself and began stroking. The thick foam of the wash was a heady lubricant.

If he tracked her down tonight, how long would it be before she would be here with him, _in person?_

The thought sent a shudder of pleasure through him. He let his mind drift as his hand moved on himself.

* * *

He had seen all seven wonders of the modern world, and decided they all paled in comparison to a soaking wet Chloe Sullivan in a bikini.

_Well, at least I'm getting some context for that bikini on the table vision... it must have happened here. Wherever "here" was..._

As usual, most of the scene was blurred outside her immediate vicinity. She was standing in a lake, with water lapping gently just below her navel. As the water moved, it played peek-a-boo with the bright red bows over the hips of her bikini bottom. She must have just gone under, because she was pushing wet hair back from her face. It was late evening or night, judging by the moonlight turning the water to silver. The soft glow also caught the water droplets on her skin, making them sparkle like diamonds. He was standing on the shore watching her.

_A lake...where the hell is there a lake we would have visited? This didn't feel like the local swimming hole..._

She turned to face him once her wet hair was securely tucked behind her ears. "You just going to stand there all night, Luthor?" she mocked, moving into deeper water.

He felt his usual mocking smile settle on his features. _Mouthy wench._ He moved slowly into the surprisingly warm water until it hit his waist. He smiled at her in challenge, then he arched forward into a shallow dive. He was am exceptional swimmer. His lean muscle was partly a result of many hours spent in the mansion pool.

Circling around her, he surfaced in a riot of water right in front of her. He grinned in victory as she squealed loudly at being drenched. Then it was his turn to be hit with a rush of water as she used both hands to splash him with a great wave. Now it was her grinning.

He narrowed his still-dripping eyelids and sank into the water until just his eyes and nose were visible. She must have sensed her danger because she turned tail and ran for the shore. She didn't stand a chance. He dove under and sliced through the water, catching her behind the knees after only a few steps. She tumbled into the water with a spluttering burst. He found himself laughing as he couldn't remember doing since he was a child as she she splashed and floundered to the surface. She didn't have anything like his grace in the water. Throwing his head back, he let the sound of his laughter carry across the quiet lake. She cursed him vilely, pushing wet hair from her eyes again, setting off another round of laughter. He had to hold his stomach with his arms to steady himself.

He was too busy laughing to catch the dangerous look in her eye once she was steady on her feet again. She didn't sneak, didn't dive. She tackled. All five-feet-two of her tackled him.

He was so startled by finding the tiny blonde attacking him that he fell back with a splash equal to hers. This time it was her laughing when he surfaced.

He was surprised to find that, for once, he wasn't annoyed at being beaten. Actually, quite the opposite. This was... _fun._ When had he last really had fun?

_Probably with her..._

She was still laughing when she moved within his reach again. Should he try for the upper hand again? The way he counted it, they were now even. When her hands reached out and she gently began wiping the clinging water drops from his face he decided a tie was fine... for now. She was grinning madly as she wiped water drops off his skin. Watching her, his attention was caught by a particular drop on her own skin. It slid from her hairline by her ear, around her cheek, down her throat, over her chest, and finally disappeared into the valley of her breasts. His arms reached out and slowly dragged her against his body. Her body still vibrated with her chortles. His lips sought the spot by her ear where the drop had originated and followed its trail down her neck. Her laughter halted abruptly with an indrawn breath. His tongue flicked out over her collarbone, catching other warm droplets on his tongue. Instinctively, she shifted slightly, aligning her hips with his. Even in the warmth of the water, the heat of her drew him. Her hips cradling the shape of his hardness through his swim trunks. His tongue finally completed its task of collecting all the sparkling water drops from her neck and upper chest. He let his lips move into the welcoming valley between her breasts.

_A woman like this was the reason bikinis existed. _

The black fabric with its white polka dots and cheerful little bows beautifully set off the pale creaminess of her skin and its healthy glow. He had been with more than his fair share of models, but he always found their bodies too bony and their skin and hair lacked luster. Not Chloe. She was beautifully rounded in all the best places...all the places where his male mind wished to grab. Using his thumbs, he pushed down the cups of her top, exposing her beautiful breats. Seeing the shine of water on the delicate flesh, he blew gently. Chloe gasped at the sudden coolness where before there was heat. Finding that single fat drop that had escaped between her breasts, he leaned forward and licked it away. She shivered.

God, he loved watching her. Loved exposing her to new pleasures. He doubted she had any sort of experience like this. He found a small mocking smile tug up the corner of his mouth. He had enough experience with water sex for twenty men. He'd been f***ing in pools and hot tubs since he was sixteen. Though he did think this was his first time in a lake. It was certainly the first time in _this_ lake.

_Wait..where exactly were they?_

His hands reached behind her to open her bikini clasp. It came away easily in his practiced hands. He slid the wet, clingy material of the cheerful bikini top down her arms, delighting in her shiver. Once free of her wrists, he sent it flying it back towards the shore. He didn't look, but heard it hit with a wet _plop._ He let his hands dip into the water again, then palmed her fantastic breasts with wet hands. She shivered at the contact, even though both the water and his hands were warm. His head dipped to take her breast in his mouth, but this time it was him groaning. She was licking water drops from his sensitive scalp. Her hands found his ears and used them to tilt his head so she could tongue bathe every inch. The feeling was incredible. His hardened body was pulsing desperately against the front of his trunks, seeking her warmth. When she was done and sense returned, he let his hands find the sides of her bottoms. When he encountered the shape of the little bows there, he smilingly tugged them open. It made him feel like he was unwrapping a particularly wonderful gift. Then sliding his thumbs up and around, he caught the sides of the stretchy material and pulled gently but firmly downward. He didn't want to damage such a delightful piece of clothing. As he dragged, he felt her own hands working on the drawstring of his own suit. Once undone, she dragged it down his hips, being careful to work the material around his him. First she, then he, stepped out of their respective bottoms. Smiling at each other, they threw them back towards the shore with a pair of wet splats. Moving forward, she held his gaze. With a very deliberate maneuver, she wrapped her fingers around him under the water. Her hand grasped him firmly and slowly began to slide up and down his steel length. He couldn't recall the last time a woman had given him a handj*b, but he was sure it wasn't nearly this good. His eyes slid closed and his head tilted back. Her pace increased as did the pressure of her fingers. The feeling reminded him of that first plunge into her body - that tight grasping, milking, tension. Blindly reaching out, he grabbed her rear, and dug his fingers into the firm globes as his hips pumped into her hand. He felt his vision blurring with oncoming orgasm.

"Chloe, I'm..."

His words were cut off when she shifted. His eyes shot open. Instead of pulsing up into her hand, he plunged into her body. She had aligned him, but he hadn't even realized, lost as he had been. With the first hard push, she cried out at the pleasurable invasion. He shifted his grip from her rear to her thighs, lifting them to wrap around his waist. The water provided incredible buoyancy, giving him the ability to withdraw from her almost completely before slamming her back down onto himself. _Hard._ Her cries carried over the quiet water as she moved with him. He felt her body teetered on the edge. His own was responding in kind, his vision fuzzing white around the edges as the pressure mounted. His pace turned uneven and frantic as he balanced on a knife edge with her. His tension finally snapped at the same instant as hers. He shouted as his hips pounded desperately into her as he released into her. Just when he thought it was almost over, her body would squeeze him again and he would find himself releasing more. He had no idea how long that went on. No idea how long it took before his poor tortured body could no longer respond to the still rushing waves of her orgasms. He held her limp, shaking form still wrapped around his, and walked them toward the shallows. Once he reached a lesser depth, his knees gave out and he sank into a sitting position on the soft, sandy bottom of the shallows. They sat quietly like that for a long time, letting their heartbeats return to normal. Every so often a new aftershock would ripple through Chloe's body, causing his still buried body to stir. He was starting to feel sleepy and considering bestirring when he heard Chloe's soft voice just a decibel or two above the sound of the lapping water.

"Thank you."

He couldn't help the mocking, satisfied smile in his voice. "Well, that's new. Never had a woman actually thank me for an orgasm before." He looked down at her, but she wasn't smiling. Her expression was very intense.

"That's not why I said it, Lex. Thank you for bringing me here." She waved a hand around to indicate their surroundings. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

He felt his mocking smile fade at her sincerity. He held her beautiful green eyes.

"You're welcome."

* * *

Two hours later, he was frustrated by the conflicting results of his search. Had he really taken her..._THERE?_ Was it really the place he thought it was? He couldn't find any evidence to support the vision. In fact, he could barely find evidence of Chloe Sullivan at all.

Chloe Sullivan showed up in a number of his searches, teasing and tantalizing him with a snippet of text or a single blurred image, but as soon as he tried to dig deeper, the trails wrapped back upon themselves or disappeared into cyberspace. It looked as if she had been scrubbed from records a number of times, with each scrubbing overlaying and confusing the previous trails.

Chloe Sullivan showed up in snippets of conflicting records all over the USA and the world, but he was unable determine how or why or even if they were all _Her._ The trails made no sense.

It also looked like she had been declared dead at least twice.

_Who was this woman?_

* * *

He ran down false leads well into the wee hours. He didn't remember closing his eyes, but suddenly he was with Her again in another vision.

* * *

"I'm not sure what sort of article you expect me to write way out here, Lex."

He smiled, looking at the cozy little 2-bedroom cabin next to the lake. For once the scene was completely clear.

_Oh God. They really had been THERE. _ _I know that cabin, know that lake. _This place was buried in the deep inside himself, behind the walls where he kept his childhood memories.

"A travel piece, of course. The joys of nature and such," he replied, waving a hand at the idyllic location.

She looked at him suspiciously for several moments, before replying slowly. "Ok...then mind telling me where the hell we are?"

"Wyoming."

"Wyoming?" She asked incredulously. "Why the hell are we in Wyoming?"

"This is my mother's cabin," he told her.

"What?" she looked up at him in surprise.

"When I was very small, my mother would take me away here for a few days at a time. After she...got sick, we stopped coming. Then when she died, she left this place directly to me." He lips twisted in bitterness. "Unlike the ranch my father sold."

Chloe stood quietly beside him, looking at the lovely rustic house. The water of the lake was a shining blue mirror behind it. "It's beautiful, Lex." She paused, then continued. "I've never heard you mention this place before, did you come here with..." Her voice trailed off, as if she decided against her question in mid-sentence.

"I haven't been back since my mother died, but I couldn't bear to sell it." He smiled wryly. "So no, I've never brought anyone here before." He looked down at her. "Until now."

Chloe was speechless.

God, he loved when he managed that. It was so rare, that he felt the victory flow through him. He felt his face stretch oddly again - into a grin. He felt suddenly..._giddy?_

_No, don't be ridiculous. I don't do **giddy.**_

But he couldn't think of another word when he grabbed her hand and started running for the cabin, dragging a laughing Chloe behind.

* * *

When he awoke, a completely new and unexpected thought hit him. It was such a shock that he found himself frozen momentarily.

They had both broken the rules. Both of them had.

He realized as he watched her in his memories at his mother's cabin that what he felt for her... she had felt for him too. Maybe not to the same degree, but she had wanted _him, _and he had been there.

Thinking back on all their encounters, he realized the clues had been there all along. That driving, insatiable sexual need he had for her...her need for _him_ had been just as great.

Sex. Love. Need.

It was all tied together.

He had been so caught up in his weakness of loving her, that he never realized her own weakness for him.

He had been a fool.

He had kept trying to find a hold over her, with money, with fear, by lording over her. Each had failed, just pushing her farther from him. Not bringing her closer.

It has never occurred to him that the times when she was closest was when he was simply just...there. No fancy meals or exclusive events, no elaborate and expensive favors, not even the hot and frantic sex. It was when they were like this. The sex was just part of the basic need to connect, to give himself to her and receive from her in turn. It wasn't about power, or even orgasm. It was about connection.

* * *

His day went by in a haze. He hadn't been able to fall back asleep after his revelation. The loss of sleep and his lack of success in his search weighed him down. He should have been able to find her by now. After all, wasn't that the point of the memory leaks? To drive him to find her?

If he couldn't find her, why was he having these visions at all?

What was locked in his subconscious that was trying so desperately to break free?

* * *

For a second night, he went home alone and buried himself in his bedroom. Feeling heavy, he went straight to bed even though the sun was still sending out a fiery blaze as it sank below the horizon.

* * *

In his vision, everything was surreally washed in red, unhealthy gold, and blinding orange.

He heard the suppressed tears in her voice. This time he knew it was because of him.

"You lied to me, Lex. You did it, and you lied!" she raged at him.

He reached for her, grabbing her arms and giving her a hard shake.

_She had to understand! _his vision self thought.

His eyes bored into hers, pressing her with the entire force of his will to _**MAKE**_ her understand. "A war is brewing, Chloe. Make sure you are on the right side."

Breaking free from his hard grip, she panted and stared back at him with hard eyes. Even now, she showed no fear. Her voice was tight and angry. "You're insane."

He stood straight and held her gaze unflinchingly. "No, but I will do whatever I have to to make sure this world is safe. You, of all people, should understand that."

He reached for her arm again, meaning to drag her to him. When she was in his arms, everything made sense between them.

She pulled her arm back before he could grasp it, and suddenly he saw stars. He stumbled back in shock and pain, but managed to maintain his balance. He stared at her in disbelief. She had _**hit him **_with a surprisingly powerful right hook.

_Well, you knew how firm her muscles were under that deceptively supple skin._

She stood looking at him, her face a complex mask of emotion. Her voice was quieter, calmer, but not the least bit yielding. "You're wrong, Lex. Just...wrong." She turned on her heel and walked away without a backward glance. Her heard her whisper softly to herself just before she was gone. "And I'm a fool."

No! He couldn't let it end like this! She was the only bright spot in his life, he couldn't...lose her.

No. She would come to understand. She had to. He would make sure she was protected until she saw he was _right._

He would have her taken somewhere safe.

Black Creek.

* * *

He shot bolt upright in his large empty bed and ran his hands over his face. Sweat sprang out over his entire body even though the room was cool.

_Oh, God._

He had her sent to Black Creek. He knew about Black Creek and the...experiments there from his project research.

Why had he thought she would be safe _there?_

His subconscious knew she wasn't dead, but what if she was...worse than dead?

That would help explain the mess of her records during his searches. He would have had to scrub the records of the illegal facility and her going there. If something had...happened to her, Luthorcorp would have scrubbed her records again.

Even if she was alive, she was probably...not the woman he knew in these visions.

Not after Black Creek.

He didn't need to find her now. There was no point. She might as well actually be dead.

He had foolishly excised her from his life by trying to cage her.

Her bright smile - gone. Her stimulating presence - gone.

His soul... gone.

* * *

He threw himself into work. He couldn't bear to continue the search for her, knowing what he was likely to find. If she indeed lived, she wouldn't be _His_ Chloe anymore.

There were no more dreams.

That vision of him condemning her to Black Creek had been the last. Whatever message his corrupted mind was trying to send was done.

But why? Why did she bleed through? Why torture him with visions of light and life with her, only to show him how hopeless it all was?

It didn't make sense.

* * *

He continued to pursue the women of Metropolis, but laconically. He didn't choose by specific type or category anymore. He brought home whoever struck his mild fancy that night. It was more out of habit than true lust now.

Then one night the unthinkable happened.

He couldn't perform.

Not once in his entire life had he failed in the bedroom.

His companion was very understanding.

It made him feel sick.

Looking at his unresponsive body, he thought, _This is something that happened to ordinary men, and I am nothing close to ordinary._ _I am Lex Luthor, damn it!_

Enough was enough.

* * *

He decided to push the whole thing from his mind. Pretend it never happened.

Love was weakness. He didn't need it.

He would f*** the women of Metropolis raw. He would crush his corporate rivals. He would pursue his shady off-book projects. He would build an empire of technology, money, and most of all - power.

He was a Phoenix. He would burn all against him to ash.

He was Lex Luthor.

He didn't need her.

She was nothing but a memory.

He was Lex Luthor.

He didn't need a soul.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

While I would LOVE to be able to claim Lex sending Chloe to Black Creek as an original idea, I have to give credit where it is due - canon and (even better IMO) Apeygirl! Canon indicates that Lex had Chloe seized and sent there, especially from what Tess has to say about Black Creek in season 8. What canon does not indicate is his exact motivation for doing so. That part is up to us for interpretation, and with a character as complex as Lex, there are soooo many great options!

For a Chlexer story, it was Apeygirl and her wonderful story, "The Depths we sink to" that introduces the idea of Lex sending Chloe away to protect her. While my story has him doing this to keep her safe until she can "come to her senses" as he sees it, the idea of Black Creek originally being a good thing in his mind originated with her. Though, of course, once he is "gone," things at Black Creek do not proceed as he planned in any storyline - canon, mine, or Apeygirl's...


	8. Chapter 8

It was a Monday like any other as Lex rode the executive elevator to the top level of Lexcorp plaza. He tuned out the mellow jazz music as he mentally reviewed his game plan for the upcoming board meeting. He knew the board would object to the new takeover. They saw the vulnerable offshore drilling company as a poor move for the company image. He saw it as a priceless opportunity to get Lexcorp an independent fuel share.

_Well, let them whine about some fish, I'll crush them all into tin cans._

The elevator doors opened and he strolled into the executive lobby towards the Boardroom. As he made his way through the impeccable marble-clad lobby, he took a moment to admire the large new wall logo. He had only just had it installed. He liked the new design with the x buried in the L. He thought it better reflected that this was _his_ company. Not his father's, not even his sister's.

_His._

The only complaint anyone had dared utter was that the huge logo took up most of the wall, leaving only a small space for the television in the waiting area. His staff thought that made it seem as if keeping visitors happy while they waited wasn't very important. He smiled mockingly to himself. It wasn't, really. If they were waiting out here, they were supplicants, not visitors. Maybe he should remove the TV altogether.

He glanced at the area off to the side where the expensive flatscreen hung over a collection of well-appointed leather chairs. The TV was on and set to one of those horrible Celebrity Buzz shows. He frowned. He should ask Gina to set the channel to something more appropriate. He hated those shows. They were an expensive PR nightmare, though he had long ago ceased to care about anything they said.

Then he saw _Her._

He froze instantly, staring at the screen.

Chloe.

It was _Her._ It was really_ **Her!**_

Something stirred inside him at seeing her, something he had thought dead and gone.

Something he had tried to kill over and over again, only to find himself lost without it.

_Chloe was alive and whole in the world._

"Mr Luthor, if you will follow me, the Board is waiting..." Gina interrupted his thoughts.

His hand flashed up to silence her with a gesture and a sharp, "Shh!"

His eyes never shifted from the screen.

_Oh God. She really was that beautiful._

The TV host chattered on about the picture with obvious delight, "_Billionaire Environmentalist Oliver Queen, also known as The Green Arrow, and his elusive wife, Chloe Sullivan-Queen, have filed for divorce after their three-month separation. The couple is seen here at a charity event earlier this year shortly before separating._"

In the picture she was in a purple floor-length gown. In her bright hair, a red-and-teal butterfly wing hairclip flashed.

His breath stopped. _The clip!_

She was smiling at the camera, but it wasn't the bright, wide smile from his fantasies. It looked brittle, forced. There was a tightness around her eyes that hinted that not all was well in her world, but otherwise she looked...whole.

The marital problems would account for the tightness, but otherwise it looked like her.

Wait. _She had married Oliver Queen?_

His first thought was that she must have been after the money. But no...this was Chloe. She had never been the least bit interested in money. If **_he_** had never been able to buy her, he doubted Queen could have managed it. She was more interested in truth, which was something he had failed to give her in the end.

Funny thing, that. She knew of his darkness and hadn't run away. It was only when he broke her trust that she left.

Had Oliver Queen given her the truth she sought? Could she have married...for love?

He thought of the hairclip he had seen her wearing in that picture. The clip_** he**_ had given her. She still wore it.

_Had she really loved Oliver Queen? Or...had she settled?_

His lips quirked in evil delight at the thought. _Settling...for Oliver Queen. _ The idea tickled Lex's fancy as much as he knew Oliver would**_ loathe_** it

His thoughts had distracted him from the TV. He looked back at it again, hoping to see more of her, but the host was now yapping about some country singer.

Didn't matter anyway.

She was alive and whole. He knew who she was, and where to find her.

Gina was still standing silently next to him, wringing her hands and glancing apologetically through the glass of the Boardroom to the waiting group.

He ignored them all. He spun on his heel and strode back towards the elevator.

"Mr Luthor!," Gina called after him.

"Call my jet. Tell them we take off in twenty minutes."

"But Mr Luthor, the board meeting!"

He spun around and pointed at the huge new logo on the wall.

"That is **_my_** name on the f***ing building! They work for **_me!_** Reschedule."

He spun back around, marching to the elevator.

He jammed his finger hard on the down button, hoping the force of the push would somehow speed up the machine.

He heard Gina gulp loudly even from across the room. "Where should I tell the pilot you are going?"

"Star City."

_After a short detour back to the loft for something..._

A ding sounded. The elevator doors retreated back and he stepped inside.

His last view as the doors closed again were the open-mouthed gapes of Gina and the board members.

* * *

At last, he had found her...by chance of all things. All his power, all his money, and he hadn't found her. Truthfully, couldn't face finding her...if she had been broken. But chance, or fate, or whatever had stepped in, giving him another shot. He wasn't going to walk away this time. He still didn't know what had happened at Black Creek or since, but whatever it was, hadn't broken her.

There was still hope for him. For her. For _them_.

This whole time he had been unable to determine what exactly the visions were trying to show him, but now he finally understood their mad reasoning. He and Chloe were strong enough to survive apart, but were...incomplete.

In that light, the pieces of the sendings were finally making sense. They weren't just about getting him to find her. They were about what she was for him. To him. Telling a story, with layers of intention woven throughout. To show him how it had been - the heat, the need - not just for him, but for her too. Even during the fights, she had been a match for him. Accepting that, he now understood why he had failed so utterly to make her into something she wasn't - something he could dominate. He now understood why the visions focused so heavily on how it had been when he stopped trying to control her, and just...was.

Seeing her on that screen finally made him understand. They had been stronger together. He never should have tried to subdue her. Any woman that could be his equal should be valued as such, and not bridled into being something...lesser.

Why hadn't he seen that before? That last awful vision finally made sense. In his quest for power and control, he had shattered _them_. He wasn't exactly sure what he had done, but he knew he had broken her trust doing it. That had been the end. The only woman to ever match him, and he had driven her away.

Away, but not down. Not like him. He should have realized how strong she was.

He should have known she was resilient enough to survive Black Creek. After all, she had withstood **_him._**

He had fared much worse losing her. When he had broken her trust, he had destroyed himself. She was the only light in him and he had extinguished it. No wonder he had gotten so lost. No wonder he had died and come back a shell. His light was gone.

He wasn't a Phoenix. He was Frankenstein's monster. He had died and come back, but he hadn't _arisen_ as he liked to think. He had been dragged back as an abomination - just a collection of remade body parts and jagged memory, thanks to his father and Tess. Without Chloe, he was a body with no soul - a true monster. _She_ was his soul. He'd been a fucking idiot and lost her time and again because he hadn't understood that basic truth.

Well, he could finally make it right.

His mind may still be blank, but it was finally clear. He would find his _soul._

Finally.


	9. Chapter 9

Lex settled back against the fine leather of the jet seat and opened his laptop. The trip to Star City would take a few hours, even flying directly there in his jet. He would use that time wisely. Like any enterprise he undertook, he had to develop a plan of pursuit. He knew that chasing after a woman that had just filed for a divorce may be considered unethical by some, but he didn't care. He was a Luthor, and Luthors were nothing if not predators. Predators sought out prey when it was weak or vulnerable. Right now Chloe might be vulnerable, though she was never weak. If ever there was a chance for him to strike, it was now.

He started by pulling up the website of the celebrity show from earlier. He just wanted to see her. That flash in the lobby had been too brief. He quickly found the story, and was reading the details the tabloid "discovered" when suddenly the page was gone. He refreshed and searched several times, but it was just... gone. He tried the overseas versions of the site with the same result.

Someone was scrubbing the story. Judging by the speed at which the story was disappearing from cyberspace, someone was using a powerful worm to track and remove the linked pages.

Someone was still trying to throw off her records.

His instincts told him he knew exactly who it was scrubbing her from cyberspace.

The person that would have the most interest in making all traces of Chloe Sullivan vanish was...Chloe Sullivan.

He found his face tightened into a grin. It was him battling against Chloe once again.

Well, for once he was determined to _Win_ against her.

This time had had an Ace to play. He knew who she really was and a place to start.

Hunching over his laptop, he went to work running down Chloe Sullivan of Star City.

* * *

It was professional pride that finally proved her undoing. She scrubbed all mentions of her personal life, but she was a reporter born, and very proud of her work.

He smiled, thinking of her intact Daily Planet records. _Once a reporter, always a reporter. _

She had a few discreet mentions on journalism sites scattered throughout the internet. Currently, she worked at The Star City Register.

**_Got you!_**

As her employer, The Register would have a current address for her, and it just so happened that the silent owner of the paper owed him a favor.

Lex knew by cashing in that marker that he would be giving up the anonymity of his search, but one way or the other, his hunt ended tonight. He would confront Chloe and either she would reject him - breaking any connection or hold between them - or she wouldn't...

He released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. If by some miracle she didn't reject him, he would see to it that she fell under the full weight of Luthor protection. It took him a moment, before he started to chuckle softly. He suddenly realized how foolish that was. She had been married to Oliver Queen all this time, but she had still managed to hide in plain sight through ingenious means. She would have no need of his protection.

Still chuckling, he decided to amuse himself by reading through her back articles.

Going to the very beginning, he started to read from something called The Torch.

When he found an interview she had done with him, a huge grin split his face. He could hear her snappy, driven voice in the words. As he read further, a loud laugh escaped from him. She had clearly been trying to corner him with some surprisingly insightful questions. It seemed they had been trying to wrangle each other since the very beginning.

And they would again.

At least once more.

* * *

It was **_Her._**

At long last, she was there in the flesh.

He studied her carefully from the concealment of the doorway across the street. She looked different from his flashes. Her skirted business suit was of good quality, but he didn't think they were designer. The woman in those clothes seemed somehow sleeker, more finished.

More grown up, he guessed.

But as she turned to pay the cab driver, she flashed a smile and it was exactly as he remembered. Wide and warm and beautiful.

Chloe.

_His_ Chloe.

He continued to lurk in the shadows of the doorway as she lifted a bag of groceries and climbed up the stairs of a modest apartment building. She was fumbling with her keys and trying to juggle the large bag.

That was when he chose to step from the shadows. Silently, he drifted to her.

"Hello, Chloe."

Her head snapped up on a gasp. She almost dropped the groceries, but caught the bag just in time. The keys fell instead with a tinkling clatter.

"Lex."

There was a world of emotion in that one word.

Then she backtracked.

"I mean...Mr Luthor."

He bent down and retrieved her keys from the step where that had fallen. His senses screamed at him to take her in his arms and ravish her on the spot, but he resisted. He moved past her and aligned the key with the lock.

"Don't play dumb with me, Chloe. It doesn't suit you."

He turned the key and they both heard the clunk of the lock opening.

She blinked at him in shock. "You know who I am?"

He turned the knob and gestured for her to precede him inside. She hesitated, then put her hand out for her keys.

He smiled at the mild challenge, but returned them to her meekly. "Well, that's the thing. My life in Smallville is more or less a blank." He purposefully sharpened his gaze to his "hostile takeover stare." The intensity of that look could stop a whole room in their tracks. He leveled it at her exclusively. "Except you."

She hesitated a moment before replying. "You remember me? You remember..."

The word hung in the air unsaid, but they both knew it.

_Us._

"Yes." He wanted to move in on her like a predator, but held himself back. The wolf was at her door already. "You haunt me, Chloe."

She moved past him, being very careful not to let her body touch his. As she passed, he caught the fragrance of her. Citrus and soap and something uniquely Chloe.

"Is that so?" She seemed to be getting over her shock quicker than he would have expected. He heard steel thread through her words.

He let her regain her conversational equilibrium, using it as a distraction as he followed her inside. He closed the front door behind him softly. He didn't want it to sound out with a heavy "thump." He didn't want her to realize he was cornering her.

"Yes," he replied without inflection.

She moved down the hall. He followed after. Stalked after.

"I don't know what you want from me, Lex. If you remember me, then you must remember...what happened."

He gently took the keys from her again and opened the door where she paused. This time he kept his eyes from catching hers. He didn't want her to see the banked fires burning there.

"Not exactly, but I've come to realize that it doesn't matter."

The door swung open easily. He saw from the corner of his eye she had cocked an eyebrow at him sardonically. "Really? You think so?"

_Sarcasm. _ Chloe loved sarcasm.

He could see her stiff spine as she moved past him. He watched her as she swished. She walked like a lady in high-heeled shoes now.

He followed her through into the apartment, again closing the door quietly. He kept his face blank, calm. He glanced around the apartment, idly noting the generic nature of it. A number of moving boxes were stacked by the door.

_She only moved here recently._

After leaving Queen.

Chloe continued through the sparingly decorated living room and into the kitchen.

He watched her in silence as she began unpacking groceries. There was a stiffness, a formality to her. A coldness. For the first time, he felt a quiver of doubt in his belly.

It was her... but was it really _Her?_

She stopped unpacking after the silent moment stretched out interminably. She met his gaze in challenge. He thought he saw a flicker of her old fire in that look. "What? Nothing to say, Luthor?"

Finally he replied, holding her gaze steadily. "Yes. I was, quite literally, another person. That was another life."

She might be his Chloe, but it had been years. What if he had missed his chance? What if the woman he loved was gone? What if the woman before him had lost the _Her_ he loved?

He had to know.

He put his hands in his pockets and sauntered towards her with a smirk, looking around the apartment with extravagant motions. Closing in on her, he waved a hand around the forgettable apartment.

"Given your tendency to fall in bed with billionaires, I would have expected you to make out with better digs than this, Chloe."

It was the most shocking, sucker-punch thing he could think to throw at her.

Any other woman would have screeched at him to get out. Maybe slapped him. Maybe a hard stare to try to make him back down and apologize.

Chloe carefully put the box of cereal she was holding on the counter. With extreme care, she slowly closed the few steps between them until she stood toe to toe with him.

She was only inches away from him. He could grab her if he wanted. He felt his heart begin to race, but keep his expression mocking.

She looked up at him with unreadable eyes. "Nice try, Lex."

When she turned away his heart sank. His Chloe was gone. She had gone cold and brittle in the years since his memories. She was gon-

The hard right hook took him square in the jaw.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** I know this chapter also seems a bit short, but I couldn't resist the cliffhanger!_


	10. Chapter 10

The hard right hook took Lex square in the jaw. The force of it snapping his head and causing him to stumble backward. He caught himself on the counter edge.

Chloe was raging at him.

"F*** that! After all the a**hole moves you've pulled, that is the least you deserve! I'm done playing lady! You're a son of a bitch and I don't care if this was all one of your little games, that felt good! And if for one moment-"

Anger suffused her face. She was flushed and her eyes snapped green fire. She was magnificent.

It was Her. It was really **_Her!_**

The cold, brittle shell was an affectation. His passionate, magnificent Chloe was still there.

He had lulled her into a false sense of security with his docility, but since the first second he had spotted her, he had just been waiting for the right moment. Lust, possessiveness, and exaltation fought within him.

She should have remembered he was a predator. She was his prey and she allowed herself to be trapped.

He straightened from the counter, finally letting his emotions rage in his eyes as he sprang into action.

He stalked the few steps to where she stood and crowded close to her. He wasn't a large man, but he knew how to use carefully applied force to his advantage.

She gasped at his lightning change and backed away, but her own body betrayed her to him.

Rapid breath, dilated eyes, racing heart.

She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Leaning into her slowly and deliberately, he pressed her back against the metal of the refrigerator. Holding her eyes captive, he flattened his palms across the cool metal on either side of her head, caging her.

"Chloe, I don't know exactly how it happened before, but I've lost you way too many times. Now that I've found you again, I don't intend to ever let you go."

"Lex, l -"

There were a million things that he wanted to say to her in that moment.

_You are the only light in my life. If I have a soul, it is only because it is in your keeping._

I love you.

He said none of these things.

He kissed her instead.

There are a thousand ways to kiss. Lex Luthor prided himself on knowing them all, though there was one he had never risked before. For the first time in his life, Lex put his entire self into a kiss.

He didn't demand, he _gave._

The kiss was hard and hot and heavy. In the kiss was everything he felt for her from that first life and every flash, every moment, since. He put the frustration of months - _years_ - into that kiss. He gave her every kiss that rightfully belonged to her that he had squandered on a faceless parade of other women.

He feared she might fight, might pull away at the intensity.

She didn't.

She kissed him back with the same ferocity.

Realization hit as she matched him as she always had. His analogy had been wrong. She wasn't prey, she was mate, and they both knew it. He would claim her as such.

His body had been hard since he saw her exit the taxi. He pressed into her harder, letting his body feel the heat of her even through their clothes.

He darted his tongue at the seam of her lips. She understood and opened her mouth. His tongue darted inside and he heard a moan. He wasn't sure if it was him or her or both.

He felt her fumbling at his belt, then his pants. His hardness sprang free. He dropped his hands from the fridge and grasped her thighs, sliding upwards under her skirt. He found the panties. They felt like lace. Good. Lace tore. He grasped the sides and pulled. They came apart in his hands.

_Like in the car..._

No. No time for memories. This was Chloe. She was actually with him!

He shifted his hands, grasped her bottom. Once his hands were full of the sweet roundness, he lifted her. Her legs wrapped around his waist instinctively. He didn't need to test her readiness. The panting cries his ear told him she was already at the brink. He buried deep with a single thrust, sliding home without any searching, her body calling to him.

Her head fell back against the metal door of the refrigerator with an audible _thump_ that she didn't seem to notice.

He knew exactly how she felt.

_Oh God. It really was that good. _

His fantasies hadn't been wrong.

Every inch of her clung to him. His hips began to move without any direction from his head. He couldn't have held back even if he wanted to. He crashed into her hard and hot and fast. There was no finesse, just blinding need as he pumped frantically. She rode him through the frenzy, meeting his frenetic pulses with her own.

Rough almost-words sprang from both of them as he f**ked her with the intensity of a thousand nights.

She squeezed and demanded compensation from him for those lost thousand nights.

It had been too long. Lifetimes between them.

With a screeching cry, she clawed his shoulders and violent shudders rocked her body.

His vision went completely white for a moment as he climaxed with her. A loud, triumphant shout echoing through the room. It was long moments later that he realized it had come from him.

When his vision focused again, he found her eyes.

They were warm and heavy lidded.

Green eyes. _Her_ eyes.

_Chloe._

Ten or more years of his past may still be a blank, but suddenly he felt... whole.

He had found his soul at last.

An unexpected nervousness hit him. She was his soul, but what was he to her?

He was loathe to leave her body. Everything made sense when he was buried inside Chloe, but he knew the next few moments were vital. He couldn't think with her wrapped around him.

He lifted her off him gently. He reordered his clothing as she tugged her skirt back down. She ignored the bright scrap of fabric on the floor that had been her panties.

He told his heart to still its frantic pace as he caught her eyes. "Do you think..." He took a deep breath, fighting with himself. Fighting with the weakness shown by the words. He had to know. "Do you think you could ever...love me?"

Her face was carefully blank and she didn't speak for an impossibly long moment as her gaze roamed his face. When she turned away, he hated himself, hated _her_ in that moment.

His father had been right. Love was weakness. Love was giving someone else control over you.

He would learn to live without the light, without a soul. He had been fine before her. Monster or not, he would find a way to be fine again after her.

He should have kept her excised from his life. She had been a raw, ragged wound, yes, but not one ever seen. Not one that could be used as an exploit. Not one that -

"Damn you, Lex. And damn me too, because I never stopped."

_Wait. What?_

She was facing away from him. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face him again. His gaze turned sharp, penetrating, desperate. "What do you mean by that?"

She raised her eyes to his again, searching. After a moment she must have reached some sort of conclusion. Her words turned soft and surprised. "You really don't know, do you? Maybe you never did..."

She let out a heavy breath.

"Lex, I've been fighting against loving you for years. I don't know when things...changed between us, but they did. At times, I've hated myself for it, but it was still there. I've married the wrong man twice, trying to force you out. It helped, for a time, but you were always there." Her gaze turned hard and accusatory. The shoulders under his hands became tense and he realized her fists were balled. "Damn you. Even when you died, you were there."

Her expression changed, but her eyes never left his. Her voice became quieter. "You died, and you still haunted me. Casting a shadow over every happy moment. You're a killer and a monster, _and it didn't matter._" Her expression was stricken and passionate.

Something inside his stomach unclenched. She had said she loved him. Would that be enough? She had loved him before and left.

"I won't apologize for what went before, Chloe. I'm not even sure what _did_ go before. I've lost my memories of that time, including the monster parts. All I can do is go forward." He held her gaze steadily, willing her to believe him. "I know I don't want to be what I was before." He paused, thinking it through. "I know I don't want to be what I am _now._" He held her eyes with the entire force of his will in his gaze. She had to understand if they had any chance. "I'm not a good man, Chloe. I don't think I ever was, but with you...I still had hope."

He looked away, remembering the pain of losing her.

"Then you were gone, I know that much. I think I became..." His voice drifted off. He didn't want to repeat the words - _monster, killer._

"Those things because...there was nothing else. No light left." He quirked a mocking smile. "It's easy to be evil in the dark." He paused, then continued. "I know I'm well on my way to being a monster again. It seems as though Luthors can buy just about anything...except a soul. I never saw it that way, until I remembered you." He felt a real smile tug at his lips, but he quickly sobered. "Then I saw how it was...until I lost you." His voice turned passionate. "I thought I'd destroyed you."

He found her eyes again. "I wish I had known I was wrong about that."

Her face was intent on his. "Lex, I won't be caged again. I've spent too much time in one cage or another. I've even put myself into them, but I always break free. No more. I won't let anyone rein me again. Not even you."

She held his gaze forcefully. "I do important work and I need to continue it."

He didn't know what "important work" she was describing, but Chloe never did anything without reason. It meant that much to her. She was giving fair warning. There would be no more cages "to protect her."

He nodded agreement.

Her look became fierce.

"The shady plans and experiments need to be reevaluated. The books are all open."

He hesitated. A lot of his plans were intended to protect the world from metas and other individuals. But...in his lost life he had sent Chloe to Black Creek. He had gutted himself because he thought he was above it all. He had almost destroyed Chloe. His soul. His guiding light. If he couldn't trust his own soul, then what was the point in saving the world?

He nodded again, holding her eyes to show he understood the full measure of the term.

"I won't let you lie to me or break your word to me," she continued, softer.

That would be harder. He tended to play his plans close to the vest. He knew they would fight about that.

Suddenly he smiled. He would get to fight against Chloe again. It would be worth it.

She paused at his smile, looking suspicious.

"I agree to your terms, Ms Queen."

"Sullivan." Her eyes narrowed. "It's always been Sullivan and always will be."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Is that so, Ms Sullivan?"

She nodded firmly. "That is so, Mr Luthor."

"Well, I think that settles things then. Though I do have one condition of my own..."

"What's that?"

"How attached are you to this apartment? You really have the worst taste in living arrangements, Chloe."

She threw her head back and let out a wonderful, full-throated laugh. Her arms moved to wrap around his neck as she bathed him in the bright warmth of her smile. "No attachments at all. In fact, I've been considering relocating."

He smiled back. "Oh really? Anywhere in particular?"

Her grin was full of merry delight. "I was thinking...Metropolis."

He was grinning. He couldn't help it. He felt exuberant. He leaned forward and caught her behind her knees and back. She squealed as he lifted her into his arms and spun around the tiny kitchen. Something rattled in his jacket pocket, reminding him.

"Chloe, can you reach into my pocket and pull that out?"

She smiled at him teasingly. "Is that supposed to be innuendo, Lex? If so, that one's pretty well played out..."

He snorted, trying to suppress his smile, and failing utterly. _Only with Chloe..._

Still smiling, she reached into his pocket and purposely fumbled around. He tried to look stern when his body started to react. She grinned impishly and finally grabbed the rattling item from his pocket.

"I believe that belongs to you." He nodded at the plain white box.

She looked at him in pure shock. "No...it can't be..." She struggled and he placed her back on her feet.

He said nothing, but he felt a wide smile steal across his face.

She slowly opened the box. _Were her hands shaking?_

"Oh my God. Lex..." she breathed. She looked up at him in wonder. "When? How?"

He shrugged. "I thought enough time had passed with it sitting in the Luthorcorp vault."

"The vault? When...?"

"It's been waiting years for you, lost in the dark." He paused, then continued quietly. "Like me."

She held his gaze for a moment quietly, before shifting her attention back to the white box. She lifted the necklace from where it rested on the padding and held it up to catch the light from the kitchen fixture. The butterfly flared to life and color.

"Lex, I - " She swallowed without finishing.

"Let me..." He gently took the necklace from her. She turned her back to him. Reaching around her small body, he lowered to necklace around her throat and clasped it at her nape. Touching it possessively at her throat, she turned back around to face him.

"Chloe." He grasped her chin and held her gaze steadily. "I finally understand everything you tried to make me see years ago. It'll be different this time, I know what to do now. I know how to conquer the darkness instead of embracing it."

"Oh, and how's that?"

"I need to finally start trusting my heart and not the fears in my head."

She smiled. "I believe in you, Lex. I believed in you even after..." Her voice faltered. "But I couldn't do it, you had to finally see it for yourself." She smiled tearfully., "But now I think you do."

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the joy, pain, loss, and rebirth he had felt since that first flash in his mind.

He was finally the Phoenix. He had been born a Luthor, but he was reborn with Chloe.

It was time to start making new memories...with _Her._

**- THE END -**

* * *

_**Next chapter is just Author Notes, Easter Eggs, and Blather. You may like the background, or not care.**_

_**However, if you read and enjoyed the story, how about a review? I'd appreciate it! Chlexy bunnies live on praise! :D**_


	11. Author's Notes, Easter Eggs, and Blather

If you are reading this, I'm guessing you liked my story "I Remember You." Normally, when I do author notes, I attach them to the chapter, but I couldn't do that without it being spoiler-y.

Easter eggs/tributes:  
- I think most people caught that his assistants were all named Gina because that was the name of his assistant in S7. You may recall he wasn't very nice to the original Gina either...  
- Chloe died at least twice in her records. Once when Lex himself faked her death in S3 (safehouse summer), and again in S7 when she died saving Lois in the dam. Yes, she died other times as well, but there wouldn't have necessarily been a death certificate.  
- Chloe's records being corrupted. Yeah, that happened A LOT. Safehouse summer (S3), S8 when she ran with Davis, and S9 when she disappeared with the Suicide Squad. It just made sense to me that she would keep her records out of the hands of the greater public as a matter of course by S10 when she started recruiting other heroes. I also think this data wiping explains why Rok says in S8 that there is no record of a Chloe Sullivan in Clark's life.  
- Lex mentions a ranch that his mother owned that Lionel sold after her death. In the S2 episode "Lucas," he tells Clark this. That is why I gave him a cabin to keep. :)  
- "Open door policy." Lex mentions this to Chloe when she bursts into his office in S7 episode "Hero." Awful, awful, episode except for the Chlex.  
- Lex never buys Chloe earrings. His "go away" gift to a woman was a pair of diamond solitaire earrings (S4 - Bound). So at no point does he give Chloe earrings of any kind.  
- Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday. So I had Lex Luthor "reborn" on a Monday, too. :)  
- What's with the Butterfly thing? Sorry, no canon reference. That is all me. I wanted something that would be very "Chloe-ish." She wasn't one to care about designers or expensive pieces. She liked color and flash.  
- Where is Chloe's son in all this? Well, the way I see it, nothing specifically indicates that OLIVER is the kid's daddy. Why not have him be Lex's at some point post end of my story? :D Yes, there are arrows and such, but in my mind, any kid of Lex and Chloe would have his own mind. Even if that meant he wanted to like Green Arrow!

First off, thanks and praise for Apeygirl and her fantastic Chlex Trilogy! Here are my shout outs!

Chapter 4 - Chloe says "You gonna move, Luthor or what?"

Chapter 7 - While I would LOVE to be able to claim Lex sending Chloe to Black Creek as an original idea, I have to give credit where it is due - canon and (even better IMO) Apeygirl! Canon indicates that Lex had Chloe seized and sent there, especially from what Tess has to say about Black Creek in season 8. What canon does not indicate is his exact motivation for doing so. That part is up to us for interpretation, and with a character as complex as Lex, there are soooo many great options!

For a Chlexer story, it was Apeygirl and her wonderful story, "The Depths we sink to" that introduces the idea of Lex sending Chloe away to protect her. I hope I made it my own by twisting both his reasoning and what he thinks happened there, but original credit is definitely given! Of course, once he is "gone," things at Black Creek do not proceed as he planned in any storyline - canon, mine, or Apeygirl's...

So here is all my blather about how/why/inspiration:

This story was born from a great prompt by lynzie914 on fluffyflocker's porn! ficathon, that I mulled over in head for a few weeks until it finally hit me with how I wanted to approach the story.

_forgive and forget you a thousand times  
for the fire and the sleepless nights_

The way I saw it, Lex had his memory corrupted, so there was the "forget." But I also wanted him to find a way to forgive...himself. In one of the early episodes Lex says that his father taught him sentiment was weakness. By the time he hit season 7, Lex had become angry and morally gray. He had 3 disastrous marriages under his belt, 2 which ended when his wife tried to kill him. Wife 3 just stalked him. If all that didn't make a man bitter and resentful of love, nothing would. He would have to find a way to forgive himself for letting Chloe in.

In season 10 when he returned (before the memory wipe) he was quite insane, planning to chop up his own sister. When he disappeared in "Arctic" and the few schemes we knew about in S8, he wasn't_ that_ crazy. Delusional, maybe, but he really seemed to think what he did was for the greater good. This made me think he had come back "wrong."

Something was missing - his soul.

But what if that soul wanted to be found?

What would tip the scales back? And what made him go off the deep end in the first place?

The answer was obvious - Chloe.

This was a unique writing challenge for me. My other long story (a Chlavis called "Something Between Us") was more or less by canon timeline. For Chlex, I'd only written a single one-shot titled "Apple." So, blurred chronology and new-ish characters aside, the trickiest part in this story was the 2 running timelines - past and present. To mange that, I wrote this story in snippets, that I then pieced together like a puzzle. The hardest part was fitting the snippets together in such a way that kept the story engaging in both timelines. I wanted him to have to fight to find who she was, where she was, and what had happened. This was how he would "earn" his soul back. But souls aren't easy things to have. He fights against what he sees as weakness, giving the story tension and so much of the two-steps-forward-and-one-step-back feel.

And yeah, there is lots and lots of sex. The prompt was from a porn! ficathon, after all! Throughout the series, Lex was a playboy. Without a soul, he would be an amoral playboy, which is why his present encounters with women are so often dark. By contrast, his encounters with Chloe have a very different feel, even when the two encounters (past/present) mirror each other.

Overall, I really hope you liked my story. If you did, how about some comments? Feed the Chlexiness!

I've got lots of other great things going, especially on my livejournal, so check back/friend me!


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